BS: Great Cockatoo Story

Subject: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: olddude
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 12:23 PM

So before my kid left for Scotland she was fostering this cockatoo (whatever they are called the big white parrot like birds with the feathers on their head) Anyway the SPCA needed a foster home until they found a real home for it. The bird came from a home where the husband and wife were going through a divorce.

My kid said the bird would fly into the bathroom when she would shower and wolf whistle at her. Then all day long it would say "you are such an A-hole such an A-hole ... F - you" over and over again ...

Funny thing the bird was adopted by an elderly lady ..

kid said she was never so glad to get rid of an animal ever.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: olddude
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 12:41 PM

Kid was telling me this story this morning. I could not stop laughing. By the way she went to the highlands to help with a complex horse birth .. said it was one of the most beautiful places she ever seen. Satellite phone are wonderful by the way. Best thing I ever bought, at least I can find her anywhere. Wish I could have gone

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 12:44 PM

Neat! Bet there's more to this story.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: olddude
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 12:48 PM

Charley
I bet the lady didn't hear it talk before she said yes ... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 01:09 PM

A friend of mine had a bird years ago....first thing HE taught it to say was "Stupid Bird".

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: gnu
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 01:19 PM

Lesser or Greater Sulpher Crested Cockatoo.

Bill D... hahahahahaaaa! (Hmmmm... I assume that was a joke?)

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: Tangledwood
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 05:13 PM

Cockatoos are very intelligent and playful. Several years ago I heard one squawking away in a big gum tree I had out the front, so I went out to have a look. Cocky was perched on a branch, snipping twigs off and dropping them on a koala resting on the branch immediately below. Each time he scored a hit the koala would reach out to try and grab the bird who then spread his wings and squawked.

They quit this after a while so I went back inside. Later I checked to see if they were still there just in time to see Cocky walk down his branch, down the tree trunk and out along the koala's branch. Koala was now asleep. Cocky went right up beside him then squawked right in koala's ear. Koala shot bolt upright, eyes wide, ears and arms flapping. Don't tell me birds don't have a sense of humour!

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: olddude
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 05:20 PM

My daughter said that if you ignored him, he would throw things at you. grab a coffee cup and whoop away it would go, or a pen or anything near by ...

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: gnomad
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 05:25 PM

I read a tale somewhere of someone who taught his pet (I forget whether a parrot or a mynah-bird) to say only one thing; "Bugger off, birds can't talk."

It must have been a pain to live with it, but quite good fun to see folks meet it for the first time.

A BBC story today says that the talking habit is spreading.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: olddude
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 05:40 PM

The bird must have picked up all the fighting phrases from the divorced couple ... I couldn't stop laughing when my kid said he just kept going on and on and on ...

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: gnu
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 06:02 PM

"Not all birds can learn to make entirely new sounds. To date, only three groups of distantly related birds have been found to have this ability: songbirds; parrots such as cockatoos and parakeets; and hummingbirds."

Hummingbirds? Now, that I would dearly wish to witness.

Ummm. What about Mynas? They mimic other birds for predatory purposes and they mimic humans.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 07:11 PM

"I assume that was a joke?"

It was funny... but it was quite real. That bird used to fly around my house. It also whistled a few tunes....but "stupid bird" was what we laughed over.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: GUEST,Ebbie
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 10:59 PM

When I was a very shy five year old I went with my family for a day's outing at the Oregon Coast. On the way we stopped at this roadside plant and bird place.

As we walked single file down the aisle, on my left sat a large white bird on a post pedestal. As I came abreast of her, staring at her, she leaned W A Y down into my face and chortled "Hello, little girl".

I've never forgotten - in 70 years - how I felt.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 03:58 AM

& great pic here -
2nd pic on page

website of renowned walker who started walking all 284 Sydney suburbs when he was 88 & kept up till his death 6 years later - check out About us for more info.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: gnu
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 02:09 PM

Bill... struck me funny that a man would not know how to teach a bird and make it obvious he didn't by teaching it that phrase.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: Louie Roy
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 10:56 PM

This reminds me of the drunk who went into the bar and ordered a double and asked the bartender where are all your customers and then he had a couple of more drinks and asked the bartenter what was the name of the bird behind the bar and the bartender said it is a cockatoo and after a couple of more drinks he ask the bartenter what was the name of the bird behind the bar and where was all his customers and the bartender said it is a cockatoo and the drunk said the rest of the story by email or PM only

Subject: RE: BS: Great Cockatoo Story
From: Louie Roy
Date: 18 Sep 11 - 10:48 PM

refresh