Poor Frank

[plumsmum2005]

Hi Loubie, Frank sounds depressed to me. He needs some interaction can you bring him in as an indoor bird and give him more time, play time, cuddles. I am a bit worried for him. Whirly sounds such a different bird to Frank, bless him, he sounds like my Plum who is a right love bug.

It sounds that his possible attempts to befriend Whirly have failed as she is the stronger (Alpha) of the two so please bring him in and give him the love he needs. Whirly can have the aviary as she is clearly happy in it and obviously do the partition so Frank can have some fresh air and a good fly from time to time. These birds are very much about what is going on in those little heads of theirs.

 

[Scott]

Whirly is still in a separate cage (it's been a week now).
Frank has seemed quite glum, and has been sitting in the same spot in the aviary for days, and doesn't come over to say hello to me while I give him breakfast every morning like he used to.... I can't decide if he is still recovering from the trauma of being bullied last week, or if he is unhappy because he is now alone??? I wish I understood birds better...
I was thinking to try putting Whirly back in the aviary tomorrow, because I'm not working the next 4 days, so I can monitor what's happening between them.
I REALLY hope they can go back to co-existing - its such a lovely big aviary, and I hate to see Whirly in a small cage when she could be flying around in the aviary.
I'll keep you posted on the re-introduction!

If Frank is tame and willing to be handled, you might give him some personalized attention before re-introducing Whirly. He may be traumatized while Whirly is missing the aviary. A careful reintroduction may be successful, but please watch them carefully. Cockatoos can be extremely stubborn, and Whirly may have already hardened against him. If so, the best possible solution might be a solid partition so both can enjoy the aviary.

 

[Loubie]

So i cant work out how to post a video here.. but i took a video of frank down in the corner of his cage and what he was doing. I sent it to a parrot behaviourist who i have had come to visit a couple of times, and the good news is she said he was just displaying very typical breeding season behaviour, flirting with a stick (the wild ones wave branches at the ladies as a courtship display), and he will probably start digging in that corner in the sand too. And that Whirly is probably telling him to back off if he is flirting with her! She said to try focus on lots of foraging activities to take him mind off it, and fill in any holes he digs. If he responds well to foraging distractions, I can try Whirly back in there but just need to watch them carefully. In a couple of months it will all go back to normal, and apparently I will notice they will start to moult when breeding season is over.
So yay, hopefully this is just a temporary breeding season related thing!

 

[Groot]

Hi Loubie....I'm very interested to hear how Frank is getting along with whirly now? Any updates? We'll be introducing a 2nd bird as well to Groot and dying to hear how things are with your two. I'm living in Perth as well.