We live with a lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo named Bernini. She’s been with us for 23 of her 24 years.
Because she was young when she came to us, her eyes were still very dark, so we thought she was a male. The two things happened: she got boy crazy (for human boys), and her irises lightened to a beautiful burnt orange. A DNA test proved what we suspected — she’s definitely a female.
She is a good bird. She loves my husband, but she tolerates others (including me) reasonably well. Despite some anxiety around people she doesn’t know, and a fear of trucks and buses (?), she has a good bit of confidence.
She has her own room in our house. It’s small, but it’s warm in the winter, cool in the summer, has a lot of western light (afternoon). Her cage is large and well stocked with toys. She’s fed, watered, and has a superficial cage cleaning twice a day. She’s not a biter, at least not without warning (when she feels like things aren’t going the way she thinks they should, she’ll give you a warning nip so you know to back off). She feels safe enough in her space that when someone she doesn’t know comes into the house to do maintenance, she removes herself to her cage until the person leaves.
When at least one of us is at home, she has the option to come out of her cage. She has places around the house that she likes to spend time: the towel rack in the bathroom, a wire rack in the sun room, the back of the couch in front of a picture window. Or she can stay in her cage and work on her toys.
Here’s the thing about parrots: though they are incredibly social, they like to have some patterns in their days. They like to “get up” at roughly the same time, and go to bed at roughly the same time. They need time to socialize with their flocks (avian or human), so should not be left to their own devices for hours and hours each day.
But they also like (and need) a little bit of alone time each day. B likes a couple of hours in the morning after breakfast, so she can eat, maybe take a nap, enjoy the day.
And that’s the problem. I used to leave the house for a couple of hours each morning when Dana went to work. I would go get some coffee, and journal or start working or run errands. When the “lockdowns” started, Dana and I were both home all day, every day. Dana went back to the office as soon as he could, but my morning ritual no longer exists (at least during the winter). I go for walks each day, and volunteer two mornings a week, so that’s something, but it’s not enough for B.
It has made everything about our days more difficult. We are all strung out because everything about her already giant personality is amplified when she doesn’t get some downtime. We took her to the vet to make sure that everything is OK with her (she’s fine, a little overweight but not obese). The vet said that the parrot she and her husband live with was having similar issues, and recommended a parrot behaviorist to us.
She’s a good bird, but at this point we all need a little bit of help.
Carmen Yount 