Why Caretakers Should Know How to Work with Parrots

By Don Scott

Her daddy loved her more than anyone would ever know.

He prepared special cooked foods for her, played with her, and gave her his undivided attention and affection. Her world was a succession of days that shimmered in the light of her daddy’s love.

There were others in her life, but no one compared to him.

Then Daddy became ill.

Suddenly, he was gone, and the world Pinkie had known came to an end.

Far away from her, in a hospital bed, George asked his wife, Mary, to care for Pinkie.

Mary knew very little about caring for a salmon-crested cockatoo, also known as a Moluccan cockatoo. Although she had lived in the same house with Pinkie for more than ten years, they had spent little time together. George had always been the center of the bird’s world.

As his heart was failing, George took his wife’s hand and begged her to care for his baby.

Mary agreed.

She knew how much her husband loved that bird. She promised him she would never give Pinkie away.

She kept that promise for two years.

A Promise Made in Love

After George died, Mary’s world turned upside down.

She knew no one else who had a parrot. She wanted desperately to reach out to Pinkie, partly because the bird represented something precious that remained of her husband.

But Pinkie wanted nothing to do with her.

When Mary opened the cage to provide food and fresh water, Pinkie retreated to the back, watching her with wary eyes. No matter how softly Mary spoke, the bird remained on the farthest perch.

Pinkie, who had rarely been noisy during the day, began calling incessantly.

Mary tried speaking gently to her. She tried reassuring her. Nothing seemed to help.

The cries continued, hour after hour.

To Mary, the sound was unbearable. It was a constant reminder of her husband and of a promise she did not know how to fulfill.

One day, Mary reached into the cage, hoping to touch Pinkie.

Pinkie lunged at her hand with her beak.

Startled and frightened, Mary withdrew.

It was the last time she attempted to touch George’s baby.

Mary felt like a failure.

Yet she had given her word. She would keep Pinkie and care for her, no matter how difficult it became.

Eventually, she moved Pinkie’s cage out of the living room and into a spare bedroom.

Once a day, Mary entered the room to clean the cage and provide food and water.

Behind the closed door, Pinkie’s cries were muffled, but they could still be heard throughout the house.

In time, Mary closed the drapes.

Eventually, Pinkie stopped calling.

The house became quiet.

The Silence

Two years passed.

Whenever Mary entered the room, Pinkie sat motionless on the same perch.

The single light Mary switched on during her visits barely illuminated the room. Pinkie remained high in her cage, partly hidden behind old toys.

Mary had gradually stopped looking closely at her.

She hated herself for what had happened, but she did not know what else to do.

A promise was a promise.

Then, one day, Mary entered the room and found Pinkie lying on the bottom of her cage.

She was bleeding.

At first, Mary thought the bird was dead.

The beautiful cockatoo she remembered was almost unrecognizable. Nearly all the feathers below her neck were gone. Her chest and legs were covered with deep scars, and several wounds were open and bleeding.

For so long, Mary had avoided looking closely at Pinkie that she had failed to recognize the extent of her deterioration.

Without thinking, she reached down and touched her.

Pinkie was warm.

She was still alive.

Mary rushed from the room and called for help.

The humane society gave her the telephone number of a bird rescue organization. Through her tears, Mary explained what had happened to a woman named Linda.

Less than an hour later, Linda arrived.

She carefully removed Pinkie from the cage and placed her in a small carrier.

Then she brought out a release-of-ownership form.

Mary pushed it away.

“No!” she cried. “I promised my husband I would keep her.”

Tears streamed down her face.

Linda spoke gravely.

“I need to get her to a veterinarian now. She needs people who understand her and know how to care for her. She needs help, both physically and emotionally. She may die if we don’t help her. You don’t want her to die, do you?”

Mary collapsed into a kitchen chair and buried her face in her hands.

“No. No, I don’t want that! George loved her so much. What have I done? What have I done?”

Linda embraced her.

“It’s time for us to take over. Let’s get her help.”

She placed the form before Mary again.

This time, Mary signed it.

Linda hurried to her van, secured Pinkie’s carrier, and drove toward the veterinary hospital.

Throughout the journey, she spoke softly to Pinkie, reassuring her that she was no longer alone.

A Chance to Live

The veterinarian examined Pinkie’s wounds and began treatment.

Her injuries were serious. She had suffered extensive feather destruction and self-inflicted wounds, complicated by a systemic infection.

Her condition required immediate medical attention.

The veterinarian treated her wounds with an antiseptic solution and prescribed antibiotics. After testing and examination, the veterinarian recommended that Pinkie be taken directly to the sanctuary, where she could receive continued care and appropriate opportunities for social interaction.

Her physical injuries were only part of the problem.

Pinkie had become profoundly withdrawn. Her behavior suggested a bird who had endured prolonged isolation and had very little reason to interact with the world around her.

Medication and wound care could address some of her immediate medical needs, but they could not, by themselves, restore the life she had lost.

She needed an environment in which she could feel safe, make choices, and gradually learn to interact again.

That is how Pinkie’s cage, freshly delivered from her former home, came to stand in the sanctuary’s living room.

The Bird Who Came Back

When I met Pinkie, time had healed nearly all her wounds.

Only a quarter-sized scab remained on her stomach.

After six months at the sanctuary, she had stopped injuring herself.

The feathers below her neckline never grew back. For the rest of her life, Pinkie remained a nearly naked cockatoo.

But something far more important had begun to return.

Pinkie no longer hid in the back of her cage.

She never allowed anyone to pick her up. Not then, and not during the remaining three years of her life.

But she did allow gentle scratches around her neck. She played a little each day with toys she could chew and destroy.

And sometimes, something wonderful happened.

If you sat quietly on the couch and waited, Pinkie might decide to come over and sit beside you.

She would climb down from her cage, waddle across the room, climb onto the couch, and plop herself down next to you.

No demands.

No expectations.

Just a little cockatoo choosing to share someone’s company.

She never needed to be held to demonstrate that she wanted companionship. She simply needed the freedom to decide when and how that companionship would happen.

Pinkie lived another three years.

Her feathers never returned, and she never became a bird who welcomed being picked up.

But she had regained something that two years of isolation had nearly taken from her: the opportunity to participate in life and make choices about the world around her.

How does it feel to sit beside a half-naked bird whose eyes still seem almost like dark glass?

Honestly, I don’t know.

I wasn’t at the sanctuary long enough to find out.

But I’ll bet it feels like heaven on earth.

What Pinkie Can Teach Us

This is a sad story, but it has a good ending.

Many stories like Pinkie’s do not.

What can we learn from her experience?

When we accept responsibility for another living being, affection and good intentions are not enough.

We must understand that animal’s needs and learn how to meet them.

Mary did not intend to harm Pinkie.

She loved her husband and wanted to honor his dying wish. But she lacked the knowledge and skills necessary to help a frightened, grieving, and increasingly isolated parrot.

When Pinkie retreated, Mary did not know how to build trust.

When Pinkie lunged, Mary saw danger rather than behavior that might have been communicating fear or a desire for distance.

When Pinkie screamed, Mary did not know how to investigate what was maintaining the behavior or how to change the circumstances contributing to it.

And when the screaming stopped, Mary had no way of recognizing that silence did not necessarily mean Pinkie was doing better.

The tragedy was not simply that Pinkie was isolated.

It was that the person responsible for her did not know how to help her.

Parrots are intelligent, social animals whose behavior is shaped by their experiences and environments. They need opportunities to interact, explore, make choices, and engage in activities that are meaningful to them.

They also need caretakers willing to learn.

A frightened parrot does not become trusting simply because we want it to.

Trust develops through experiences in which the bird learns that interacting with people can be safe and worthwhile.

And sometimes, the most compassionate thing a caretaker can do is recognize when someone else is better equipped to provide the care an animal needs.

Mary ultimately made that decision.

It was probably the hardest part of keeping her promise.

The Meaning of Adoption

Pinkie’s story also tells us something important about adopting a rescued parrot.

When you choose to adopt from a rescue organization or sanctuary, remember that the bird you meet may have traveled a long and difficult road.

The bird may not be half-naked or glassy-eyed.

There may be no visible scars.

But you cannot know simply by looking how much work has gone into helping that bird recover from fear, illness, neglect, or other difficult experiences.

You may never see the hours spent cleaning wounds, preparing special diets, rebuilding trust, providing veterinary care, or patiently reinforcing the smallest steps toward recovery.

You may never know how many times a caretaker sat quietly beside a cage, waiting for a frightened bird to take one step closer.

Each bird is a labor of love.

For those who have devoted themselves to helping these animals, placing a bird in a new home can be emotionally difficult.

It is not simply a matter of transferring ownership.

It is entrusting a precious life to someone else.

That is why responsible adoption requires more than enthusiasm.

It requires preparation, knowledge, patience, and a commitment that does not disappear when circumstances become difficult.

A Promise for Life

Have you decided that you cannot live without a parrot?

Are you prepared for the responsibility?

Are you ready to take your vows?

Perhaps these words will sound familiar:

“Do you take this companion for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, till death us do part?”

Parrots take this vow.

Will you?

Originally written 2008–2018. Revised for publication.

© Don Scott. All rights reserved.