Lots of good advice throughout the thread.
If you are set on one of these birds, I would go with a galah cockatoo or hahns macaw.
The galahs tend to be a nice "in between" of cockatiels and cockatoos. In fact, galahs can even reproduce with tiels (not recommending this, just saying). They still have a lot of cockatoo personality, but typically aren't as high strung or prone to plucking.
Hahns macaws are mini macaws. They have the macaw personality, but you can provide more space, more easily. They are loud, but not quite as much as the big guys.
With that being said, the best advice that's been stated is to spend as much time around some of these birds as you can. Every person is different and every bird is different.
What a load of rubbish! They are still prone to plucking as easily as the bigger cockatoos, seen it first hand. Things happen which set off this really upsetting behaviour and there is not much you can do to stop it. It certainly reduced me to tears to see a Galah doing this to itself.
Little bird but huge personalities, do not under estimate a Galah they are clever, complex, manipulative and require a lot of time still. If anyone reading this takes this advice you could be in for a shock IMO
You are taking what I said out of context.
Galahs are still cockatoos and can still pluck (of course). Cockatoos in general tend to be more prone to plucking than most other species (of course). Percentage wise they are less prone to plucking than moluccans and umbrellas. This has most certainly been my experience from visiting rescues and belonging to many parrot groups. The number of moluccans, umbrellas, and even goffins that pluck compared to galahs is astronomical. Of course they still require a lot of time. No where did I state that any species of cockatoo is easy, which is why I started my statement with "if you are set on one of these birds." I can only speak of tendencies that I've experienced, unless there is a study that you are aware of?
Small exert from an article from someone who raised multiple galahs.. obviously anecdotal evidence, but sharing regardless:
"I am constantly recommending these birds to people who have their eyes SET on a cockatoo (FYI: I never recommend cockatoos as pets to anyone, but if you are so set on one you have to have it, this is the only one I’d tell someone to get of the cockatoo family). I first heard about them from Dave when he took a trip to Australia by himself and saw them all around. In Australia, they are called “galahs” and are pretty much pigeons there and pests. But in the US, they are a $1,200 and up priced pet parrot.
Most people want a bird like the white cockatoos (Umbrella, Moluccan. Goffin, etc) – it doesn’t seem many people are aware of rose breasted cockatoos.
Now, they are still cockatoos. So yes, they are needy and can have short attention spans! Cockatoos need constant stimulation mentally to keep them busy and growing. Trick training is great for rosies. Bondi (pictured above) will literally go into what I call “training mode”..."
Separate article. Taxological differences as well:
"
Unique Among Cockatoos
There has been some discussion whether the rose-breasted cockatoo should be classified with the white cockatoos. For those researchers and people familiar to its breeding morphology, they agree that it makes better sense to classify the rose-breasted cockatoo in its own monotypic genus (classified alone due to behavior and reproductive habits). To most aviculturists that are familiar with several white cockatoos and the rose-breasted cockatoo, they feel they also have differences in their behavior.
The behavioral and appearance of the young of the rose-breasted cockatoo is very different than those of any white cockatoo. They seem to resemble the cockatiel development more than that of a white cockatoo. The incubation and fledging times of the rose-breasted cockatoo are significantly shorter than those of the white cockatoos.
Except for the little Corella (bare-eyed cockatoo) all white cockatoos lay one or two eggs and in the wild only one usually survives. The rose-breast species will lay between four and six eggs, and most of them will survive. The rose-breast young are very aggressive and vocal as they must fight to survive in a full nest of young. This is so different that the white cockatoos that seem to have a laid-back attitude in the nest. The down of the newly hatched rose-breasted is pink compared to the yellow of all the other Cacatua species (with the possible exception of the Goffin's and that being marginal)."
Lastly, as another small anecdotal test, I encourage you to google image "plucked galah." Then google image "plucked moluccan" and "plucked umbrella cockatoo".
