Considering Cockatoos? Part I

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Rose Breasted Cockatoo

Cockatoos, the familiar, mostly white, crested group of parrots from Australia and Indonesia, are often one of the first parrots a family is drawn to when choosing a bird. However, you need only talk to a couple of parrot rescue organizations or look in the “for sale” ads to see that cockatoos aren’t for everyone. Not that they make bad pets. It’s more like they don’t make good pets unless the owners really know what they’re doing. I don’t have actual statistics on this, but my experience leads me to believe that cockatoos are one of the most commonly re-homed parrots, passed around from place to place because they got to be too much. That passing around could possibly have been prevented had the bird landed in the right place to begin with. But that’s not the bird’s fault.

Each month I talk to several people who are either thinking of selling their problem too, or they’ve just acquired someone else’s “mistake” and want to bring the bird around. It sure would be better if I talked to several people who were in the mulling-it-over stage and needed some help with their cockatoo purchase decision. I’m afraid that for many people, my suggestion would be “Don’t get one”. Not everyone realizes the huge potential down side of these downy-soft birds. But the large number of older cockatoos being placed up for adoption, the frantic pleas for help on parrot website message boards, and the discouraged clients I help tell another story. A cockatoo is an “extreme” parrot. So put some extreme thought into your decision before you bring one home. Don’t be ruled by your heart when you hold that adorable big-eyed baby as it wraps its foot around your fingers and offers you a charming smile. Use your head, and learn the reality of the pet cockatoo.

You could call cockatoos a study in contrast. Cute, cuddly and affectionate. Loud, demanding and belligerent. These are all words used to describe pet cockatoos. And they would all be accurate for the most part. With their large, dark, button eyes, baby-doll speaking voices and almost insatiable need for physical closeness, they are indeed one of the most lovable of all birds. But along with that sweet nature comes a tendency to be overly needy and possibly violently bossy. Not to mention, they like to take tear things up, rule over everyone and everything in sight, and make lots of noise. And when they are loud, they are very, very loud. There’s a website out there that features an “up close and personal” recording of a Moluccan cockatoo in full-blown tantrum mode, giving folks an idea of what they’d be facing on possibly a daily basis. Even the more diminutive Goffins and bare-eyed cockatoos pack a pretty hefty wallop in the scream-and-screech department. Anyone with a need for quiet, like apartment dwellers, probably should pass on a cockatoo for that reason alone.

Umbrella Cockatoo

It’s not that a cockatoo will inevitably become a problem pet, but the odds of it happening increase if the bird is brought into a home of unprepared people. Since it’s not likely one just appears on your doorstep or follows your children home from school, you’re going to acquire this bird because somehow you choose to. And hopefully it was after lots of careful consideration. If not, you may be playing catch-up on how not to end up with a pushy, overly-dependent parrot that you’ve accidentally spoiled rotten, and not in a good way. It’s important to address the specific concerns about raising a well-mannered cockatoo, so some prevention-oriented cockatoo care is coming up.

is article has been written by professional parrot behavior consultant Kim Bear who consults with the clients of Birdtricks.com