a few of my favorite pics of Rocky

[mascot]

Just wanted to share these...to show what a charater Rocky is, and how incredible he is, too!

You can click the thumbnails for a larger picture....

Enjoy!

[EagleEye]

Man, your'e mean 

Torturing that poor bird like that----those pictures are a hoot

Made my day,

Steve

[Desertponder]

I love your pics of Rocky! I particularly like the bad feather day shot.
I wish I still had my cockatoo. :'(

[mascot]

Man, your'e mean 

Torturing that poor bird like that----those pictures are a hoot

Made my day,

Steve

Mean?!?  Moi??  You may see that as negative attention, but to Rocky it's still attention nonetheless!! 

[mascot]

I love your pics of Rocky! I particularly like the bad feather day shot.
I wish I still had my cockatoo. :'(

He's so unique, and so special.  "Bad Feather day"...I used to call it bad hair day, but I like yours better!  I have a bowl of his discarded feathers and one day I just started sticking them in and he just let me do it....he loved that I was actually touching him (he loves the human touch more than almost any bird I've ever seen).

[Esther]

He is a sweet buddy. I think he may be more that way seeing he is blind and he knows he can and has to trust you to protect him and for attention. From what I understand, they crave attention anyway, blind or not. He is a good bird.

[mascot]

Well, Esther, the species has a very dependent disposition more often than not, and when I wanted to get a cockatoo I was told to get two so it would have a companion.  Basically, everything I was told should have kept me away from him, but fortunately for me I went ahead and got him.  He has always been very independent, and that hasn't changed since he lost his eyesight.  He's definitely bonded with me, everyone says they can see that, and I think you're right about him trusting me more now.

Some of those pictures were when he was fully sighted, and some after he lost his vision.  He is definitely more affectionate now since he seems to trust me more, but luckily for me he doesn't crave it.  People ask if I spend more time with him now that I work from home full time, and I try to limit the time I spend so he doesn't get used to constant attention should my situation change.  He still does great when I'm gone for a full day, though...he loves his toys and spends hours chewing on a stick in the corner!   

[barb]

He's so lucky to have you!  What a beautiful bird, and it's great to see you take such good care of him.  How did he become blind?  Does that have something to do with your userID?

[mascot]

He's so lucky to have you!  What a beautiful bird, and it's great to see you take such good care of him.  How did he become blind?  Does that have something to do with your userID?

I was lucky to find him, some guy wanted to get rid of him and had him advertised for $200 in a free ad, which normally would mean that he's in bad shape (either a plucker, biter or ... worse).  When we got there we couldn't believe what we saw, and he came home with me.  I wrote a poem about the experience here if you want to read it...it's a bit long.

He got an eye injury a couple years ago, and the trauma and stressed caused cataracts to develop in that eye, and eventually it compounded and he got them in the other eye.  He can see movement and light/shadows, but if I hold food out for him he has to feel around for it because he doesn't see it.  He's my "Blind Cockatoo"...Blind 'Too for short!

Here's a feeding ritual that sort of developed with us, posted on YouTube.  For some reason, once he lost his sight he started waiting for me to hand him the first piece of food.  He actually sits there and peeps until I hand him something.  I don't know how it started, but he expects it now! 

[miguynmkoi]

'TOO Cute!  I'm sure he's the feather in your cap.   

[Pa Nancy]

Oh what a wonderful bird you have there. Wished I could trim my birds as easily as you can trim yours. I would LOVE to have such a buddy like that. You're a lucky guy.

[barb]

He's so lucky to have you!  What a beautiful bird, and it's great to see you take such good care of him.  How did he become blind?  Does that have something to do with your userID?

I was lucky to find him, some guy wanted to get rid of him and had him advertised for $200 in a free ad, which normally would mean that he's in bad shape (either a plucker, biter or ... worse).  When we got there we couldn't believe what we saw, and he came home with me.  I wrote a poem about the experience here if you want to read it...it's a bit long.

He got an eye injury a couple years ago, and the trauma and stressed caused cataracts to develop in that eye, and eventually it compounded and he got them in the other eye.  He can see movement and light/shadows, but if I hold food out for him he has to feel around for it because he doesn't see it.  He's my "Blind Cockatoo"...Blind 'Too for short!

Here's a feeding ritual that sort of developed with us, posted on YouTube.  For some reason, once he lost his sight he started waiting for me to hand him the first piece of food.  He actually sits there and peeps until I hand him something.  I don't know how it started, but he expects it now! 

Both the video and poem were just so sweet they literally brought tears to my eyes.   

[mascot]

aw, thanks Barb!   If you watch some of the other videos on the channel and see how well we interact....then just imagine that when I first saw him he wanted nothing to do with people at all.  Even the prior owner was afraid to pick him up for fear of being bitten.  I decided to liberate Rocky from that home, and in less than two weeks I found out that he's really a very affectionate bird!

I still can't believe we've been together almost 16 years...he's about 25 or so, and probably has another 25-35 years left in him.

thanks....

[barb]

Happy Thanksgiving....

[happyoutsidegirl]

Your such a good daddy! and you two seem to make such a great pair.

[Ky Kim]

So cute........I watched the u-tubes, lots of them.  I enjoyed them all.

Kim

[bunny56lbc]

I enjoyed the poem .It brought tear's to my eye's .
Rocky is a neat bird . Loved the picture's , expecially the one where is is laying on his back on a dish... ....too funny ! Look's like he's haveing a Great time too !

bonnie

[mascot]

Thanks, you all.  He's an incredible bird...it was a fluke that I found him the way I did and that I actually got to him first, but I'm glad I did.


He's a lot of fun!