Umbrella Cockatoo
Umbrella Cockatoo a sweet-nature species, umbrella cockatoos can be overly affectionate bordering on obsessive with their caretakers. These birds may require more attention and care than many other species, but they make up for it with their comical charm.
Umbrella cockatoos are popular for doing tricks, making them delightfully entertaining companions for bird lovers. Just as with any bird, however, prospective owners should be sure that they can meet the needs of an umbrella cockatoo before acquiring one.
Learn more about the umbrella cockatoo’s appearance, temperament, and care needs.
Origin and History
Umbrella cockatoos are native to the tropics of Indonesia. These birds originally hail from the Maluku Islands in the central and northern parts of the archipelago. They are now commonly found throughout all Indonesia.
You can find these birds in forests, mangroves, swamps, and open woodlands. They enjoy living along rivers and the edges of clearings and farmland, which provide a bounty of food. Due to the transition of their native lands to farmland, the birds pick at crops and farmers consider them a nuisance. The umbrella cockatoo species population is declining due to a loss of their habitat, hunters, and trappers. Vulnerable to endangerment, umbrella cockatoos are now a protected species.
Temperament
Umbrella cockatoos are gentle, docile, and sweet-temper by nature, making them well-suited to be companion birds. In the wild, umbrella cockatoos mate for life. They form a very close bond with their mate, possibly more than other species of cockatoos. They will join small flocks of umbrella cockatoos and are rarely apart from their mate. If a mated pair is separated, it is not uncommon for each of the birds to become genuinely depress.
Rarely aggressive
Rarely aggressive, they will quickly form strong bonds with their caretakers. These affectionate birds love to cuddle with their person, bird, or even object of choice. Equally loving and devoted owners are a good match for these parrots. This species begs to be spoiled, so plan on at least one to two hours of training, attention, and enrichment per day.
Umbrella cockatoo bird
Umbrellas are very social and intelligent. They are capable of learning and performing a wide variety of tricks, such as using a twig to scratch their back, taking a bow, playing fetch, and dancing. Easily trainable, they are feature as the star of bird shows. Short, daily training sessions yield the best results.
To prevent your bird from becoming bore have an arsenal of safe bird toys at your disposal. This species is not know for its mimicry of human speech, but does screech loudly to vocalize displeasure or excitement.
Speech and Vocalizations
While the occasional cockatoo can imitate human speech, in general, these birds are not good talkers or imitators of sound. They can learn over 50 words, but they’ll often scream rather than talk. They have a loud, grating screech or scream and may hiss when alarm. The wild, their loud vocalizations are use for communication and could carry over long distances.
In captivity
In captivity they often use loud squawks to call for attention. For this reason umbrella cockatoos may not be the best choice for those who live in apartments or condos or anyone with close neighbors. You can’t stop these birds from being loud but if you don’t reinforce the behavior by giving them attention, even to tell them to quiet down you might be able to reduce the screaming.
Umbrella Cockatoo Colors and Markings
Umbrella cockatoos are primarily white with a pure white crest, and this is a feature that can help you distinguish them from other cockatoo species. When courting a mate, agitated, excited, scared, or even just frustrated, their crest will raise into an impressive umbrella-like fan. It can also be a peculiar way to express curiosity at something new and, quite often is a warning that the bird wants to be left alone. It’s also a good warning sign that the bird may bite if approach.
Caring for the Umbrella Cockatoo
Umbrella cockatoos is not the ideal pet for first-time bird owners and is better suite to those who have experience with other birds, such as parrots.
These are large birds that need a large cage and play area. Get an enclosure that is as large as possible since these birds do not enjoy containment. This species may act out or become very unhappy in a tight space, which can lead to self-mutilation or illness.
Diurnal birds, umbrella cockatoos require uninterrupt sleep every night for 10 to 12 hours. Good sleep is essential for maintaining their health and wellbeing.
Common Health Problems
Umbrella cockatoos can develop some of the diseases that other pet birds can get such as:
Diet and Nutrition
Like all large parrots, umbrella cockatoos are big eaters. In the wild, they spend most of the day looking for food. Seeds, nuts, coconuts, and grain in farmer’s fields are standard favorites in their diet.
As a pet, about 80% of their diet should be a formulate pellet diet. The rest of their food should consist of a wide variety of vegetables, including leafy greens and root vegetables. High-quality grains, such as quinoa and other ancient grains, fresh sprouts, and fresh fruit are great dietary choices for this species. Fresh water should be available at all times
Exercise
Umbrella cockatoos are active birds. Like all parrots, they need to spend at least two hours out of their cage each day for play and exercise. Provide your bird several chewable bird toys to exercise the bird’s powerful beak. Rotate the toys occasionally to prevent boredom.