got them some kaytee healthy bits treats (parakeet ones as the pellets were smaller lol)








and munch, out of the blue, flew onto my head and played with my hair, this is a first shes come to me on her own without a food bribe

Dally is very skilled with her foot! Shodu and her children like to hold things with their feet but they're not very good at it. This is why I have Nutriberries all over the floor.


Don't be so sure that there wasn't a food bribe. Maybe she was trying to eat your head!

now that IS a thought, munch trying to eat my head....


dally is very good at it. first she picks it up her her beak and then reaches up and grabs it with her foot and eats like that. she picks up foot toys too like that too. like willow twigs and such she loves to hold like that and tear to pieces. its very interesting watching her. i see my friends cockatoo eat like that and its fun to watch. mind you, hes a little more talented lol dally holds most treats in her feet. sunflower seeds, seedballs, chunks of dried fruit, small seed treat clusters, pumpkin seeds.... anything i hand to her, she eats like that so long as shes perching lol she wont do it over a bowl, shes not stupid, why waste efforts when its easier for the bowl to hold the treats...


hootie, my friends goffins cockatoo, he takes his pellets and scratches his head with them lol

Cockatoos are MUCH better at foot use than cockatiels. It's an evolution thing. Tree-feeding birds need good foot skills so they can do the acrobatics needed to reach their food, and then hold on to it so it doesn't get dropped while they're eating it. Cockatiels are primarily ground feeders. They don't need good foot skills to reach their food, and if it gets dropped it only falls down a couple of inches and they can just bend over and pick it up again.

it makes sense but thats probably my one big favourite things about parrots. i love watching them eat with their feet. its so fun to watch. and watching the big birds slowly scratch their head as if theyre massaging it lol

We laugh at Vlad because he scratches his head wrong half the time. When he uses one foot he puts his leg behind his wing like he's supposed to. When he uses the other foot he keeps his leg in front of the wing. I have no idea why, he doesn't have any physical problems with that leg.

thats funny, but hey, if it works for him right? thats an interesting quirk

It does work for him, and it doesn't bother him when we yell "Do it right!" at him.

still i wonder, if maybe its linked to the weird eating with foot thing, like a variation. has he ever had babies? it would be cool to see if it were genetic like the foot eating

There are two hens that wish Vlad would make babies! But he's completely clueless about sex. This year I stole two fertile eggs from Shodu and gave them to Vlad, Mims, and Snowy to raise. Mims and Snowy were wonderful mothers. Vlad kept burying the eggs in the shavings, then later tried to get the hens to feed him instead of the babies. Eventually he figured out that he could get a little bit of Mims and Snowy's home cooking by licking the dribbles off the babies' beaks. I keep hoping that his natural instincts will kick in, but I think he's a hopeless case.

Just by coincidence, the two babies turned out to be lutino and whiteface lutino - just like their foster mothers. That was really nice.