upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

HI GUYS!!!!
AM I AT THE RIGHT PLACE AND WHERE IS EVERYONE??
DEBBI

Hi Debbi....It's Merlin, right? Some of us are still here...the site has changed so much..not a lot of posts any more. How are you? Are you still in Florida?
Catch us up on your adventures...and how you are doing? Didn't you have GSDs?

Hi, I'm here, sort of. I'm going through a health thing and the meds make me very tired and I've been doing good just to read. LOL

Well, I've been gone for a month and I thought I would have a lot to read on Cockatoo Chat! Not so! Gee whiz! I'll try to drop in more often. I've been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and have been busy getting lined up with all my drug treatments, the installation of a portacath, and the first three-week cycle of chemotherapy. Come on, someone must have some cockatoo news. After 15 years of not touching them, Bingo has suddenly decided he wants to tear up the new papers I put in his cage - but just for the first ten minutes or so, and then he leaves them along again.

I'm very sorry about your cancer diagnosis (((( Sue )))) No matter how early it's caught, the diagnosis still knocks the breath out of you and the treatment is hard. Please USE us. Let us be your world away from all that. Or your support when you feel the need. We love you.

Praying for your fast cure,
Paca

I'm visiting the Cockatoo chat. I'm usually on the Grey chat. I recently within the last 5 months become facinated with birds. I bought a TAG and I'm having a wonderful time with him. My boyfriend got an Orange Wing Amazon a couple of days ago. We both look at pet shops in nearby towns every time we are near one and on a recent trip stopped in to look at the birds. There were 3 Cockatoos in this particular store. As we were walking by this one, she lifted her leg at my b-friend and wanted to step up. He let her and she began the most endearing flirting I've ever seen. She let out a "heyyyyy" and picked at his buttons. She coughed and told him she smoked too much. It was so sweet. ( sorry I'm getting long-winded here) but anyway...I kept on looking and saw this Lesser Sulphur Cockatoo. I'm not familiar with all the names, so excuse me if I say it wrong. Anyhow, he/she got on my arm and right up on my shoulder. Well, at first he/she seemed sweet, but I didn't really like him up close to my face, but I didn't really know what to do to get him to move back down on my arm. Anyhow, I got a bite on the face, (not too bad thank God) and a bite on my little finger. I have learned a lesson. I won't pick up a bird I'm not familiar with again. But, after all of this long - winded story telling, is there warning signs that a bird is fixing to bite you? It seemed to come out of no where. I'm just curious. And, what are the differences in temperament in the Molluccan and the Lesser Sulpher Cockatoos? The one that was flirting with my b-friend, I think was an Umbrella Cockatoo.

Thanks.

My experience is mostly limited to one cockatoo, so I can't help you a lot. You are right, though, when you say don't pick up a bird you are not familiar with, or at least that you haven't watched for awhile. One indication of a cockatoo as to whether it is calm or excited is the crest. If that crest is up and the eyes are pinning, watch out. But that doesn't mean it won't bite at another time too. I do my best to keep my Goffins away from my shoulder but it is hard because his previous owner let him there all the time. He mostly wants to be on my chest, just below my chin. He's never tried to bite me from there, but he's closer to my face than I would prefer. He loves to sit there and have his head rubbed. Each bird is so different from one to another, that I can't say there is really a hard and fast warning sign.