Umbrella Cockatoos make extremely sweet, charming, intelligent, and well-behaved pets. Just as with any bird. Most are gentle enough to be handled by older children, and many Umbrella Cockatoos are beloved family pets.

. Before deciding to get an Umbrella Cockatoo, though, make sure you’ll be able to give them lifelong care: after all, these pet birds can even outlive their owner.

Umbrella cockatoos are magnificent birds, and keeping one as a pet means you may have found the best-feathered friend you could hope for. They are beyond affectionate—bordering on obsessive—with their caretakers, though they do require more attention and care than many other species.

The Umbrella Cockatoo is mainly a pure white, medium-sized bird. Its plumage is completely white except for a distinct yellow coloration on the under-wings and at the base of the tail. They are the only large cockatoo species with an entirely white crest. Their crest usually is flat on their heads. They have a rounded, umbrella-shaped crest when raised, thus giving them their name.

The beak is grayish-black, and like all parrots, is large, curved and very powerful. Male Umbrella Cockatoos tend to have dark brown almost black eyes, whereas the females tend to have more reddish eyes. Both sexes have a pale bluish-white eye-ring. The legs are a dark gray.