Rob's Birds
Bert

Please read if you love parrots.

Bert is a 19 year old male umbrella cockatoo (2006).

He's been with me long enough now that he's replaced nearly all his feathers -- and he is gorgeous!

He had chewed or pulled the feathers on his legs while he was in fostercare. He looked so cute and silly when they started growing back, because for a short time he had a single row of tiny perfect feathers in a ring just above his "ankles". Since then, he's been shedding and regrowing the feathers on his legs 'from the bottom up' so to speak.

Bert loves to play in his paper bag -- he hides in it, naps in it, drags his toys and wood in and out of it. Sometimes I think he's part cat! He does not like cameras, even with the flash turned off. (The bag is not increasing territorial behavior. Bert is VERY handle-able even when hormonal.)

When I gave Bert his first bath, I discovered that when he was damp, he smelled like mildew. Fortunately the smell faded with each succeeding bath and by the sixth or seventh bath, he just smelled like "wet bird." Bert loves baths, and to get drinks from the spray bottle, and he even likes the blow-dryer. (He has been checked for aspergillosis.)

When I was working with Bert on "step up", Alex helped with the repetition by saying "up, up" and "Good boy" and "Bert" and less helpfully, "Come 'ere."

It took over a year, but Bert finally learned "step up". Any time I offered him my arm when I knew he was going to step aboard, I'd say "step up" and then praise him and tell him "good step up! Good boy!" once he did. Then I started presenting my arm when he was not planning to come to me, and saying "step up" -- and when/if he did, I'd praise him even more. At first, he seemed to think I was very strange, but gradually he made the connection between the words and the action. Now we're working on "down" and "step down."

A year seems like a really long time to teach a bird to 'step up' -- but either Bert's previous owner didn't talk to him much, or else spoke a language other than English or the other half dozen I tried.

The photo above was taken soon after Bert moved in.

Bert's owner became too ill to care for him, so he was "fostered" for about three months before I got him. Bert was very unhappy much of that time -- he missed his "mom", he was in a strange place, and alone a lot of the time (the person caring for him worked full-time and then some). He stopped eating as much as he should have, and just picked at what he was given. Bert is a big boy -- he should weigh 700 to 750 grams. When he came here (January 2003), he weighed 610 grams. (September 2003 -- Bert is up to 670 grams! He still has a ways to go, so I'm figuring eventually he should weigh close to 750 grams -- or not, see end of page) His keel stuck out (a good one-quarter inch) because he'd lost muscle-mass, and he felt very bone-y all over. (The vet said he'd seen worse -- I hate to think!) Bert had also been chewing his body feathers under his wings (so a lot of his skin showed through) and some on his legs, and had been biting the ends off his large feathers.

Because Bert had been in isolation and under stress for three months already, I put him directly into the bird room. I felt he had effectively been in three months quarantine -- and under stress, when illnesses are most likely to show up -- so the risk was minimal, and I took him to my vet as soon as possible.

The first 24 hours he was here, he wouldn't eat much. I opened the food that came with him, and let him eat whatever he would -- which turned out to be sunflower seeds, so I gave him sunflower seeds. And I got him to try some red globe grapes (the ones with seeds) and he decided those were okay. For the first couple days, that's all he lived on -- sunflower seed and grapes. My main concern was to get him eating again, a balanced diet would come later. (I did give him the "good stuff" but he wasn't interested.)

Bert watched my other birds and soon decided to eat what they ate, starting with Nutriberries. He finally (after 7 months) started consistantly eating Harrison's and Roudybush pellets -- hurray! He demands peanuts (unsalted), and loves cantalope and ripe black plums. He will eat thin slices of Fuji apple, and he still likes red globe grapes.

I bought a really big cage for Bert, a macaw sized cage -- and finally got him moved into it. The cage became available due to the death of a young man named Kenny. He was stung in the mouth or throat by a bee or hornet -- it was in his pop can at a family picnic. He had a severe and immediate reaction, and died almost before anyone knew he was in trouble. Kenny had a beautiful blue and gold macaw; his vet agreed to adopt the macaw as his office mascot, but didn't need the huge cage since the bird would be out all day and only caged at night for sleeping. Kenny's sister sold me the cage, and her very helpful husband dismantled and loaded it into my car. (Thanks!) Annie said she found it comforting that Kenny's macaw's cage is going to be used by Bert, who was adopted by me following the death of his owner.

Initially, Bert made me a little uneasy -- he was, and continues to be, very "mouthy". He uses his beak to touch and explore everything, including people. He is, however, very careful and gentle, and much more reliable than Alex. At first, he was so hungry to be touched and petted that any time he was out, he would reach for my hand, carefully take hold of a finger, and pull my hand over to his side. He would also tuck his head under my chin when on my shoulder or in my lap (he's more of a lap bird than a shoulder bird, except of course when we go to the vet's).

The vet said Bert's left jugular vein is larger than his right -- in most birds, it's the other way round. And he has a large brain in that feathered head.

December 2003 -- Bert is doing much better these days. He has regained at least 2/3 of his muscles, he is growing many new feathers and shedding lots of powder. Every now and then, he still bites the end off one of his large feathers, but not often. He can and does fly, and still does his daily wing-beating exercise, often while on my arm.

August 2004 -- I've come to believe that Bert's muscles probably never were as well developed as Alex's. Although Bert is eating well and exercising, there has been no additional muscle growth over the last few months. I think that Bert's diet or exercise or both were lacking when he was first maturing.

We've been working on having Bert fly across the room to my arm on cue. He thinks that's fun. I've also been encouraging him to "pick up toys" -- when he's out with me, he loves to play with his toys and then throw them on the floor. He's getting pretty good about picking a toy up when asked, then giving it to me or throwing it onto the playstand tray (sometimes even into the toybox).

While Bert doesn't say as many words as Alex, he can talk human talk a little -- "hello" and "all right" and "good boy" and, of course, "Alex." He averaged one word or phrase a month when he first came here, then used them less and less often. However, he does make a great variety of sounds that usually get his meaning across.

December 2005 -- Bert has started saying "hi" and "hello" and "good" pretty often again, perhaps due to Boo-boo talking so much. He even said "good Alex" the other day after Alex groomed him.

January 2005
I was concerned about the amount of water Bert was drinking (and passing), and I noticed he was losing weight, so I took him to the vet. When Bert's blood work came back, it appeared that his kidneys were not working as they should.

February 2005
I took Bert back in for more blood work, and got a revised diagnosis -- Now the vet thinks he's got something similar to inflammatory bowel disease. (He was probably dehydrated when we did the earlier tests.) That would be something he can live with, and we can treat with anti-inflammatory meds and minding his diet -- unlike kidney disease. He hasn't lost any more weight.
He cracks me up -- he started carefully folding up his wet/dirty papers, and shoving them over in a corner. He watched me fold them up and then take them away, so I guess he figured he can do that too. He is a smart bird!

April 2005
Bert is on an anti-inflammatory, a honey-flavored liquid I put on a piece of fruit every day, and is doing great. He's gained back most of the weight he lost. Everything seems to be back to normal!

Bert adores my female pionus Jasmine -- although she's been regularly rejecting any show of interest from Bert, so he shouldn't consider her his mate -- but he has demonstrated that he will defend her from any threat.
(2006 -- After observing the guys' responses to Tookie's elevated hormones, I now know Bert's interest in Jasmine is definitely not sexual.)

When Loki moved in, Bert was very visibly hoping that Loki was female -- really, really, REALLY hoping! -- for several weeks. Then he acted so depressed for a couple more weeks when he finally accepted that Loki is male.
Bert has "known" from day one that Boo-boo is male, and has been hollering more.

Alex	Casey	Jasmine	Bert	Loki	Chester	Boo-boo	Tookie
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