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I was only gone for a minute.....
The Cockatoo doesn't like to be in her cage during the day, so when people are around she usually is free to roam In the immediate vicinity where we can keep an eye on her. When she starts doing things she shouldn't we call on her and like a small child she does an about face and walks away - at least until we are not looking.
Today I went upstairs briefly, and since I didn't anticipate being gone long I didn't lock her in her cage. When I came back I found the package of guitar strings mauled, and after about an hour of searching - the computer mouse she had hidden behind a filing cabinet.
Having a cockatoo is like having a 4 year old who will never grow up.

Birb Life...

Cute!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thats funny. I've been around them. Cool birds and very much like small children.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Revenge ON the cockatoo?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

She did get a "time out" by being put in her cage for a couple of hours.

I envy you Clay. I've always loved birds of all kinds.

LOL! that's funny. A real prankster that one.

We've had a few cockatiels. Love the birds but man, they can do some chewing damage all over the place if you let them run free. Don't even get me started on how much more damage my Newfoundland dog does to my floors. Love the big guy though and it's only stuff!

Hi Darrel,
You are right - Cockatoos are like an avian chainsaw. Soon after we got her she mauled a Morris chair in about 30 seconds. She can break out large chunks of wood with her beak. It reminded me of a Martin craftsman I saw carve a neck with a drawknife - he just dug in and broke out large chunks of wood. The difference being his looked like a neck when he was done, and the chair looked like a disaster. She also has a fixation about bamboo back scratchers, and will destroy them whenever and wherever she finds them. It can be a little disconcerting to have a bird land on your shoulder and proceed to attack the scratcher while it is in use. When she would grab it I would take it from her right away and glue it back together.
She got wise to this and ran off and took it around the corner out of sight before commencing to kill it. I had the wife pick me up a half dozen scratchers on her next trip to the dollar store (along with cheap masking tape and paint brushes).
Cockatoos are also extremely LOUD birds, and will scream for any reason or no reason, and this is why I would suggest people not get them. But they are also extremely friendly and affectionate birds and like to cuddle with their owners and be with them more than any other bird I have known. The original owners of the cockatoo apparently couldn't deal with the screaming behavior and isolated the bird in a barn. She was rescued by a young man who rehabilitated the bird (taught her to play "fetch" like a dog) and socialized her with other people. Unfortunately health issues prevented him from keeping her, so she was passed along to my wife's menagerie to join the African Grey and the assortment of canaries and finches she keeps.
The African Grey has a much different personality and is a good talker. He will say "see you later" when you are leaving, will call our Daughter by name, would say "get down dog" if the dog got too near his cage, and will ask for food if he wants what you are eating (he likes ). He also has a bad habit of presenting his head to be scratched and then biting the finger that is scratching it, which is why the previous owner gave him to us. She felt her grandchild's fingers were more important than keeping a bird she had had for 17 years. We have had him for another 10 years, and it is possible he could outlive us (as well may the cockatoo). Parrots live a long time, unlike cats and dogs, and often outlive their owners. Large birds require a long term commitment.
In my youth I trained a Redtail hawk to use for hunting squirrels. With the appropriate command and reward it would return to the glove, but was never particularly friendly and would only allow limited contact. Raptors tend to be wary of physical contact in most cases. It is something I have considered doing again, but it not only requires state permits as it did 50 years ago, but also federal permits, and the county has become much more developed since then.

My neighbors are lovers of wild birds and have created a kind of sanctuary that attracts a diverse array of species. It's great for me, as all I have to do is hang out a simple feeder and the whole menagerie will swoop in to check things out.

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George :-)