Ask Lafeber

Overly “friendly” male Cockatoo

I have a 15 year old Make Umbrella Cockatoo who is obsessed with meeting new people. Anytime a new person comes around he will run to them to the point that I had to lock the cat door in my office because he would fly out of it to meet someone outside! It doesn’t appear to be an aggressive behavior because he steps up and gives his head for a scratch but after this he often will get nippy because he’s over excited. He can’t be in the room with my 14 year old son alone at all because he is obsessive about getting to him and when he does get to him he gets overexcited after a couple minutes and bites. My only option has been to keep him in his cage when my son is home or lock him in a room with just me. When he bites we don’t react and just put him away. We don’t know what else to do.

Hi,

This is a situation where you would benefit from consulting with a parrot behaviorist. It sounds like he is generally over stimulated. Since he is an exotic species, he is driven by instinct. But we end up giving our birds mixed signals without meaning to. He is most likely trying to head off visitors before they get near you or his home. But they don’t know what reaction he is looking for and end up confusing him. We have a great webinar on cockatoos that you may want to check out. The presenter is available for consultations and her contact info is at the end of the slide show. Dealing with any behavior concern is something that takes more insight into the bird & his background and how you & your family interact with him.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda