Linus, umbrella cockatoo

Parrots, like people, can become complacent and fall into routines. They can develop habits that are difficult to break as they get comfortable with the status quo. Such was the case with Linus, my umbrella cockatoo.
Linus has been away since last October. He has been staying with a trusted friend, Anna, in New Mexico, and is due to return TODAY!! I am excited beyond words to have my boy back with me – there has truly been a hole in my heart since he ...

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Many parts of Australia are in natural disaster mode as I write this. Seventy-five percent of New South Wales is underwater due to record-breaking floods. For those unfamiliar with Australia – that’s an area larger than the entire of France. Similarly a substantial part of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are also flooding. So that’s four states in flood crisis. Meanwhile Western Australia has bushfires. Apparently a couple of ...

I just don’t do hills. I don’t like it when treadmills pretend you’re going up one, I don’t like them when I’m cycling, I avoid them when walking my dog and I’ve even been known to throw a tantrum when (thanks to a slight hill), my feet wound up about 3 cm higher than my head when sleeping in a tent. While 3 cm definitely lands me squarely in the category ...

When I took on Otto (my musk lorikeet), I was expecting major behavioural problems. He was a re-homing case, which is very different from a rescue. He came to me because he didn’t fit in with his family and their lifestyle. He had serious behavioural issues and was inflicting some pretty serious injuries on his humans. They’d dealt with his health issues, they’d bought vet-recommended training courses but he was still completely unreadable ...

My elderly galah, Cocky Boy definitely prefers my mother to me. He loves her so much it is sickening, she can get away with anything. I’m allowed to cuddle him to but he always holds himself a lot more tensely around me. As it turns out, there’s an advantage to that.

 
The other day, I ran my hand down Cocky Boy’s back in a patting motion. He tensed and what I thought was a little brown jumping spider, ran out from under his wing, lunged at my hand then disappeared – all in a split second. It was so fast, ...

The second you get known simultaneously for helping animals in need and as a parrot owner, you’d be amazed at just how many calls you get to help an abused parrot, or just a parrot who needs re-homing. It is incredibly difficult to say no to the sob stories. In the last twelve months, I personally have dealt with just under 30 non-wild native parrots that needed re-homing or help finding their lost owner. Fortunately, in most of those cases, the owners were looking for them.
Needless to say, my flock of eight consists mostly of sob stories that I ...