Photo by Dave Location: Sandpoint, Idaho Showerer: Rose Breasted Cockatoo "Bandit"

I took Bandit into the shower for the first time while staying at my parents' house in Sandpoint, Idaho. I didn't take a shower perch but he had watched Bondi (a 3 year old of the same species) from a shower perch before.

He merely perched on my hand and I covered his face and head and let the water mist the rest of his body since he was getting pretty messy looking from all the hand feeding I have been doing! Sometimes with the hand feeding I would miss, or he would move and I would miss and get it all over his face. Also, baby birds can just be messy like that so it's not a clean process!

Bandit wasn't excited about the water but he wasn't intentionally trying to lean out of it, either. Which made it easy to bathe him even though he wasn't that responsive to it. I have since bathed him and he has been the same way. He just shuts his eyes and sits there - no fluffing up about it but no running to get away either. Since he is a type of cockatoo (also referred to as a galah) he produces quite a bit of dander so he needs his bathes often. 

Just wanted to share the differences between how some birds percieve their first bath! Or few baths! In case your bird is the same way as Bandit.

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.