I live in Australia, in an area where Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos are common. Those things are amazingly intelligent, curious and fearless, traits which serve them well in their continuous hunt for food (preferably ours). Three anecdotes:
• In high school, cockatoos always clustered around the lockers (which were outside, of course), so they could eat any food someone had foolishly left unattended. There was a story going round that the cockatoos had learnt to undo the zips on backpacks so they could get at the food. Admittedly, I never saw that with my own two eyes; however, I do know that they had learnt to puncture plastic bags so they could eat any food inside.
• Later on, in university, I had a habit of eating lunch outside in a grassy area. One day, a couple of cockatoos landed near me, looking at my food; this continued until about 8–10 cockatoos were clustered around me, all carefully eyeing my food. They then started to move forward — slowly, so as not to frighten me off — until they were all just a couple of centimetres away from me. Quite sensibly, I had by this time placed the lid on my container (though foolishly had not locked it in place) to stop them from eating it. I thus felt safe in moving away from all these nasty-looking birds — at which point, one of them reached out and tipped the container over, so the lid fell off and the food fell out! (I actually have a picture of the moment.) Of course I quickly gathered up the spilt food, but they did still get a bit to eat. It annoyed me, of course, but I am still impressed by the intelligence required to realise that this is the best way of getting food out of a box with a lid.
• At the same university, I once saw a cockatoo creep up to an unsuspecting man sitting on a bench and have a nibble of his pant leg! It’s unclear why it would do such a thing, but I’ve since come to the conclusion that it was simply curious to know what clothing tastes like.
Moral of the story: do not underestimate Australian wildlife, for it is cleverer than you would expect.
My hiking buddy and I dropped our packs to climb Mount Ossa off the side of the Overland Track. We had been warned that the currawongs would try to get into our packs. So we zipped everything up tight, pulled the rain covers on and placed them face down (ie strap side to the sky).
When we got back from we found the birds had pulled off my pack cover and managed to open the zip for the pocket on the top of my pack and pull out a bunch of stuff. The pack cover fit quite tight, so I was surprised the birds had the strength to pull it off. The zip needs to be pulled a just the right angle to move freely, so they must have known which way to pull the tag and been persistent at trying different angles until it opened.
A quick search shows I'm not the only victim, the link below includes numerous matching stories with some photos of the aftermath:
Sidenote, I also did uni in Australia. The student visa expired and I went home. I really wish I had never left. Aussieland is the worlds best country by far.
My childhood freind had a Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo that would follow him to school and just hang out until he was out for lunch. Sometimes he would find his way into the classroom, he was a super smart bird and knew how to get the windows open on some of the rooms.
My mum helps with rescue birds sometimes and now has a Gullah, which for anyone familiar is a pink/white cockatoo very similar to a sulfur-crested cockatoo.
He's so smart, knows tonnes of words. songs and situations, and knows that when the cat shows up he can refer to it as "Pus pus pus".
The YouTube channel MakersMuse 3D printed some puzzles for wild birds to solve on his porch, it's really remarkable to watch them figure it out:
> The Australian Magpie is also extremely intelligent, surprisingly they're not part of the Corvus family but they are very, very similar.
I agree — they’re more intelligent than cockatoos, though it’s not as obvious. At the same university, I once saw two young magpies lying on the ground. Were they hurt? No — they were play-fighting with each other, lying on the ground and using their feet to wrestle. An amazing sight.
All this is absolutely true. We had a lot of white cockatoos years ago, including a Moluccan, a medium sulphur-crested, an umbrella and (this species is now critically endangered) a Philippine red-vented. The Moluccan was one in a million: he housebroke himself, put himself to bed at night, didn't squawk, didn't bite, didn't destroy things. He sat with my sister on the couch and watched TV. We never closed the cage door. He was caught wild as an adult, tamed within weeks and of course eventually died of PBFD a couple years later. PBFD also killed the other red-vented we had, but this one (even though he'd eat pretty much anyone) he never bit me ever. He went to the zoo, where I hope he is repopulating the species.
But the sulphur-crested and the umbrella were more typical. The sulphur-crested was trouble from the beginning and he bit everyone at least once. He had an obnoxious habit of eating peppers and then asking for a kiss because he enjoyed the reaction. We found a home for him. As for the umbrella, he was a gorgeous and delightful bird as a baby and unmanageable as an adult. I still remember the day I had to catch him because he escaped onto the porch. The towel didn't stop him from severely gnawing my hand. He, too, found a new home.
And I'd consider us fairly experienced as a family with parrots; my folks still have a charming little caique. We also had macaws and an Amazon and even a red fan parrot, a beautiful and absolutely intractable wretched thing who only obeyed my father and yet nailed everyone including him. But I loved the cockatoos most, even though everything in this article is dead on. I think it was Robert Blake remarking on his trademark cockatoo in Baretta that if you work with parrots, expect to get bitten.
If you're new to aviculture, try a cockatiel or a budgie first. They're easy to care for, are much less likely to be difficult to handle, can be extremely good pets and may be all the bird you need. Bigger birds really require devotion to the cause.
My advice to anyone who talks to me about wanting a cockatoo, or any large bird really, is don't. If you're asking me about them, then you don't know what you're getting into. If you don't intend to devote a substantial portion of your life to that animal, it will not work.
Personally, I'd never own an animal smarter than a conure. And a conure is really pushing it. If I ever get the cats wrangled well enough and am willing to give up my non-stick pans, I think I'd like a couple parakeets. Plenty smart, sweet, interactive, and I won't have to feel guilty about providing enough metal stimulation for what is essentially a 2 year old kid.
Seconded. I've seen people get them 'because they're so cute' and then after a couple of years reality sinks in and they realize that they're on the hook for the better part of their lives and then sooner rather than later there is the mysterious case of the disappearing bird.
I've got a friend who keeps an eye on the big humane society in town. She's adopted an iguana, some pigeons, and is trying to talk me into a couple quail. The shelter has no idea how to house or home these animals. The pigeons were in a canary cage for example. So she takes them in and gets them the care they need and either rehomes them herself or gets in touch with rescue groups. Her last pair of pigeons is now raising abandoned mourning doves at a wildlife rehab center.
I don't understand how people can purchase these animals on a whim without doing any research. Some of them really care and are just in over their heads, but many don't understand that these are living things. I rode horses, worked in barns, and took lessons for 7 years before I even thought about buying one. My mare ended up falling into my lap before I was even intending to purchase. And for all the hours I'd spent caring for and training them, I had no idea what I was doing half the time. Thankfully I had a lot of support in those early years.
And don't even get me started on fish. I worked in a pet store for a couple years and it was the most draining job I've ever had. People just don't care or don't realize what goes into caring for exotic animals. The idea that those folks who wanted a bowl for their goldfish are also thinking about a parrot sends shivers down my spine.
For a macabre experiment you could set up a nice ML project for counting the number of fish flushed down toilets in any major city.
One person I knew had a death in the family, next thing you know she's buying a Samoyed pup as a 'life affirming' thing. Guess how that ended. People are completely dumb when it comes to having pets.
For all my effort and research, I'm sure I've flushed more fish than the average person. I don't even want to think about what percentage of the animals I sold during my time there lived their natural lifespan. Not many, I'm sure. Sometimes I think it would be better to give up fishkeeping altogether for the sake of the individuals. But if you've got an aquarium in your house and you're passionate about it, I'd think you're more likely to contribute to conservation efforts.
Sometimes I think about opening a pet store and being the soup nazi for fish and rodents. And sending every spare dime to conservation efforts for those animals in the wild. In the meantime, I'll donate what I can where I think it will do the most good. It's not much, but I hope it makes some kind of impact.
A samoyed though? Beside being a spitz breed and not super social outside of the family, they don't seem like a bad choice. I have to admit that I haven't known too many though. The impression that I've gotten is that they're hairy shedding beasts, but are relatively low-maintenance as far as exercise once they're two or three years old. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that.
It's a better choice than a siberian or many of the sporting dogs. I don't think I'd spend much time talking someone out of a samoyed unless they had a lot of visitors to their home.
But I guess anyone who is buying an animal in a reaction to a big life event is going to be at high risk of having to rehome them. It's so foreign to me to consider buying a living thing without the intent to keep that animal happy and healthy for their natural life span. I just cannot get into that headspace.
A big part of why I was hesitant to buy a horse was the idea that I either needed to be stable enough to care for an expensive animal for 25-30 years or be able to rehome it. I couldn't bring myself to even think about selling my mare, so she's traveled around the country with us. We're at about 12 years of her being part of our lives and nowadays my husband(not a horse guy) won't even consider the idea of selling her even though I don't have the time to ride.
Oh, and the kingsnake, which I decided to take on out of a bad situation, has a lifespan of 25-30 years. My husband and I weren't married or even living together at that point and it needed a home, so I took it without consulting my husband. He was pretty upset because he doesn't care for reptiles. He was even more upset when he found out they live up to 30 years. But even the guy who doesn't like snakes was appalled when I explained what kind of living situation I got the animal out of. And now we've owned a snake for the last 6 years and it's kind of part of the family and part of the furniture. They sell for $30 as babies and people get them as easy starter pets. They are easy. Extremely easy. But I don't think most people realize that they're getting into a multi-decade commitment when they buy a snake at 18 years old.
Small apartment, person has full time job, leaves dog unattended in the apartment. A Samoyed is a working dog, it needs to be kept busy or it will turn to boredom and destruction. It chewed its way through a set of furniture before it was dumped at the human society.
Poor pup. Our girl ate a lot of stuff, including my cell phone early on. Was not housebroken when we got her at a year old either. She is now, certifiably, the best dog.
Dogs require work to fit into your life. I don't understand how people think they're going to buy one and it's just magically going to train itself.
Yes. It frustrates me because I can pretty much predict the future when I get messages about people getting a puppy and knowing them and/or their home situation. Relatively few people have the kind of dedication that it takes to properly care for a pet (or a child, for that matter).
I currently don't have pets. That's because I love pets.
They are very rewarding pets, if still demanding... you get out what you put in.
Parrots lead active emotional lives. Relationships mean a lot to them, they come with expectations, and they know when they are not being taken seriously.
I think there is a common misconception in the bird owner universe that a cockatiel is some kind of starter parrot, and to get the full experience you need to get a larger cockatoo, a macaw, or some other bird that can live more than 60 years, scream as loud as a jet engine, and take your nose off... it’s not true. Give a cockatiel companionship and respect and they’re every bit as engaging and interesting (and loving) as anything bigger or more exotic.
https://www.youtube.com/user/BirdTricks Cautionary/educational link for anyone who wants to adopt a parrot. They have a handful of species themselves, and release videos on several other species.
I'm generally anti parrot aviculture for 3 reasons: few birds seem to do fine as pets; acquisition escalation leads to a great many unhappy birds; a minority of people seem as committed to the relationships as the birds.
I advocate education not regulation and this article is spot on.
The majority of people do not, or even try to, understand how intelligent animals can be (other than dogs/cats ofc), let alone think they too have emotions. To them a caged parrot in the house is nothing but a nice, funny ornament, that can speak.
26 comments
[ 5.1 ms ] story [ 65.2 ms ] thread• In high school, cockatoos always clustered around the lockers (which were outside, of course), so they could eat any food someone had foolishly left unattended. There was a story going round that the cockatoos had learnt to undo the zips on backpacks so they could get at the food. Admittedly, I never saw that with my own two eyes; however, I do know that they had learnt to puncture plastic bags so they could eat any food inside.
• Later on, in university, I had a habit of eating lunch outside in a grassy area. One day, a couple of cockatoos landed near me, looking at my food; this continued until about 8–10 cockatoos were clustered around me, all carefully eyeing my food. They then started to move forward — slowly, so as not to frighten me off — until they were all just a couple of centimetres away from me. Quite sensibly, I had by this time placed the lid on my container (though foolishly had not locked it in place) to stop them from eating it. I thus felt safe in moving away from all these nasty-looking birds — at which point, one of them reached out and tipped the container over, so the lid fell off and the food fell out! (I actually have a picture of the moment.) Of course I quickly gathered up the spilt food, but they did still get a bit to eat. It annoyed me, of course, but I am still impressed by the intelligence required to realise that this is the best way of getting food out of a box with a lid.
• At the same university, I once saw a cockatoo creep up to an unsuspecting man sitting on a bench and have a nibble of his pant leg! It’s unclear why it would do such a thing, but I’ve since come to the conclusion that it was simply curious to know what clothing tastes like.
Moral of the story: do not underestimate Australian wildlife, for it is cleverer than you would expect.
That reminds me of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag5JIlOE6as
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_currawong#Feeding
My hiking buddy and I dropped our packs to climb Mount Ossa off the side of the Overland Track. We had been warned that the currawongs would try to get into our packs. So we zipped everything up tight, pulled the rain covers on and placed them face down (ie strap side to the sky).
When we got back from we found the birds had pulled off my pack cover and managed to open the zip for the pocket on the top of my pack and pull out a bunch of stuff. The pack cover fit quite tight, so I was surprised the birds had the strength to pull it off. The zip needs to be pulled a just the right angle to move freely, so they must have known which way to pull the tag and been persistent at trying different angles until it opened.
A quick search shows I'm not the only victim, the link below includes numerous matching stories with some photos of the aftermath:
https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=23012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTh0m2GalRw The human here takes his cup around after they are done feeding. They still fight over it, probably because they are curious.
My mum helps with rescue birds sometimes and now has a Gullah, which for anyone familiar is a pink/white cockatoo very similar to a sulfur-crested cockatoo.
He's so smart, knows tonnes of words. songs and situations, and knows that when the cat shows up he can refer to it as "Pus pus pus".
The YouTube channel MakersMuse 3D printed some puzzles for wild birds to solve on his porch, it's really remarkable to watch them figure it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YyTHyaNpo
The Australian Magpie is also extremely intelligent, surprisingly they're not part of the Corvus family but they are very, very similar.
I agree — they’re more intelligent than cockatoos, though it’s not as obvious. At the same university, I once saw two young magpies lying on the ground. Were they hurt? No — they were play-fighting with each other, lying on the ground and using their feet to wrestle. An amazing sight.
But the sulphur-crested and the umbrella were more typical. The sulphur-crested was trouble from the beginning and he bit everyone at least once. He had an obnoxious habit of eating peppers and then asking for a kiss because he enjoyed the reaction. We found a home for him. As for the umbrella, he was a gorgeous and delightful bird as a baby and unmanageable as an adult. I still remember the day I had to catch him because he escaped onto the porch. The towel didn't stop him from severely gnawing my hand. He, too, found a new home.
And I'd consider us fairly experienced as a family with parrots; my folks still have a charming little caique. We also had macaws and an Amazon and even a red fan parrot, a beautiful and absolutely intractable wretched thing who only obeyed my father and yet nailed everyone including him. But I loved the cockatoos most, even though everything in this article is dead on. I think it was Robert Blake remarking on his trademark cockatoo in Baretta that if you work with parrots, expect to get bitten.
If you're new to aviculture, try a cockatiel or a budgie first. They're easy to care for, are much less likely to be difficult to handle, can be extremely good pets and may be all the bird you need. Bigger birds really require devotion to the cause.
Personally, I'd never own an animal smarter than a conure. And a conure is really pushing it. If I ever get the cats wrangled well enough and am willing to give up my non-stick pans, I think I'd like a couple parakeets. Plenty smart, sweet, interactive, and I won't have to feel guilty about providing enough metal stimulation for what is essentially a 2 year old kid.
I don't understand how people can purchase these animals on a whim without doing any research. Some of them really care and are just in over their heads, but many don't understand that these are living things. I rode horses, worked in barns, and took lessons for 7 years before I even thought about buying one. My mare ended up falling into my lap before I was even intending to purchase. And for all the hours I'd spent caring for and training them, I had no idea what I was doing half the time. Thankfully I had a lot of support in those early years.
And don't even get me started on fish. I worked in a pet store for a couple years and it was the most draining job I've ever had. People just don't care or don't realize what goes into caring for exotic animals. The idea that those folks who wanted a bowl for their goldfish are also thinking about a parrot sends shivers down my spine.
One person I knew had a death in the family, next thing you know she's buying a Samoyed pup as a 'life affirming' thing. Guess how that ended. People are completely dumb when it comes to having pets.
Sometimes I think about opening a pet store and being the soup nazi for fish and rodents. And sending every spare dime to conservation efforts for those animals in the wild. In the meantime, I'll donate what I can where I think it will do the most good. It's not much, but I hope it makes some kind of impact.
It's a better choice than a siberian or many of the sporting dogs. I don't think I'd spend much time talking someone out of a samoyed unless they had a lot of visitors to their home.
But I guess anyone who is buying an animal in a reaction to a big life event is going to be at high risk of having to rehome them. It's so foreign to me to consider buying a living thing without the intent to keep that animal happy and healthy for their natural life span. I just cannot get into that headspace.
A big part of why I was hesitant to buy a horse was the idea that I either needed to be stable enough to care for an expensive animal for 25-30 years or be able to rehome it. I couldn't bring myself to even think about selling my mare, so she's traveled around the country with us. We're at about 12 years of her being part of our lives and nowadays my husband(not a horse guy) won't even consider the idea of selling her even though I don't have the time to ride.
Oh, and the kingsnake, which I decided to take on out of a bad situation, has a lifespan of 25-30 years. My husband and I weren't married or even living together at that point and it needed a home, so I took it without consulting my husband. He was pretty upset because he doesn't care for reptiles. He was even more upset when he found out they live up to 30 years. But even the guy who doesn't like snakes was appalled when I explained what kind of living situation I got the animal out of. And now we've owned a snake for the last 6 years and it's kind of part of the family and part of the furniture. They sell for $30 as babies and people get them as easy starter pets. They are easy. Extremely easy. But I don't think most people realize that they're getting into a multi-decade commitment when they buy a snake at 18 years old.
Dogs require work to fit into your life. I don't understand how people think they're going to buy one and it's just magically going to train itself.
I currently don't have pets. That's because I love pets.
They are very rewarding pets, if still demanding... you get out what you put in.
Parrots lead active emotional lives. Relationships mean a lot to them, they come with expectations, and they know when they are not being taken seriously.
I think there is a common misconception in the bird owner universe that a cockatiel is some kind of starter parrot, and to get the full experience you need to get a larger cockatoo, a macaw, or some other bird that can live more than 60 years, scream as loud as a jet engine, and take your nose off... it’s not true. Give a cockatiel companionship and respect and they’re every bit as engaging and interesting (and loving) as anything bigger or more exotic.
I'm generally anti parrot aviculture for 3 reasons: few birds seem to do fine as pets; acquisition escalation leads to a great many unhappy birds; a minority of people seem as committed to the relationships as the birds.
I advocate education not regulation and this article is spot on.
Definitely a forced domestication unlike say, wolves to dogs.
My favourite video of a cockatoo removing the pigeon spikes from a building.
https://youtu.be/1FvD3NebLxE
I would say please don't cage these beautiful wild birds.