5 ms·

All About Cockatoos (2002)

43 points by rex_lupi 5y ago

bradrn 5y ago
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.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  "at which point, one of them reached out and tipped the container over..." That reminds me of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag5JIlOE6as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag5JIlOE6as
  - bradrn 5y ago
    Hah, yes, that is exactly what our cockatoos are like!
- fian 5y ago
  Not cockatoos but I have had my hiking backpack opened by black currawongs in Tasmania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_currawong#Feeding 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://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=23012
  - bradrn 5y ago
    Thanks for sharing! I always dismissed the ‘cockatoos opening zips’ thing as a myth… perhaps it was true after all.
- rex_lupi 5y ago
  Well, If a hungry mob of cockatoos start approaching me, I'd rather let them have my food.
  - qart 5y ago
    They will do that even when they are fully fed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTh0m2GalRw 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.
- unixhero 5y ago
  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.
- ehnto 5y ago
  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: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YyTHyaNpo 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.
  - bradrn 5y ago
    > 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.
classichasclass 5y ago
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.
- msrenee 5y ago
  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.
qart 5y ago
https://www.youtube.com/user/BirdTricks 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.
xbar 5y ago
Great article. 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.
JimTheMan 5y ago
I've always thought I strange that we take smart, very social, flying creatures that love to explore and lock them in cages, clip their wings. Definitely a forced domestication unlike say, wolves to dogs.
- rex_lupi 5y ago
  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.
rbg246 5y ago
They are beautiful, mischievous, highly intelligent birds. My favourite video of a cockatoo removing the pigeon spikes from a building. https://youtu.be/1FvD3NebLxE https://youtu.be/1FvD3NebLxE I would say please don't cage these beautiful wild birds.

43 points by rex_lupi 5y ago

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.

pmoriarty 5y ago
"at which point, one of them reached out and tipped the container over..." That reminds me of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag5JIlOE6as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag5JIlOE6as
- bradrn 5y ago
  Hah, yes, that is exactly what our cockatoos are like!
fian 5y ago
Not cockatoos but I have had my hiking backpack opened by black currawongs in Tasmania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_currawong#Feeding 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://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=23012
- bradrn 5y ago
  Thanks for sharing! I always dismissed the ‘cockatoos opening zips’ thing as a myth… perhaps it was true after all.
rex_lupi 5y ago
Well, If a hungry mob of cockatoos start approaching me, I'd rather let them have my food.
- qart 5y ago
  They will do that even when they are fully fed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTh0m2GalRw 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.
unixhero 5y ago
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.
ehnto 5y ago
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: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YyTHyaNpo 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.
- bradrn 5y ago
  > 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.

classichasclass 5y ago

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.

msrenee 5y ago
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.

qart 5y ago

https://www.youtube.com/user/BirdTricks 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.

xbar 5y ago

Great article. 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.

JimTheMan 5y ago

I've always thought I strange that we take smart, very social, flying creatures that love to explore and lock them in cages, clip their wings. Definitely a forced domestication unlike say, wolves to dogs.

rex_lupi 5y ago
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.

rbg246 5y ago

They are beautiful, mischievous, highly intelligent birds. My favourite video of a cockatoo removing the pigeon spikes from a building. https://youtu.be/1FvD3NebLxE https://youtu.be/1FvD3NebLxE I would say please don't cage these beautiful wild birds.