Flying round in Leicestershire

[VWGolf]

A blue-eyed cockatoo (I think)

[Denis]

Great to see you posting again! , we have now got the coloured variety spreading out of London 20 miles away.... and noisy things they are too.

[Paul]

I expect it's from a collection that escaped sometime?

Paul.

[CMunzel]

We have white cockatoos in Australia (Sulphur-crested) but I’ve never seen a blue-eyed one. Seems they are endemic to island north of here, New Guinea? 
 

[VWGolf]

I looked it up and he is a blue-eyed cockatoo - so called because of the blue skin around his eyes, not actually blue-eyed

This picture is of Sidney - who followed me around for ages, including hanging onto my camera strap!  He's a juvenile male cockatoo who shows off a lot and last time I went, he was in the naughty cage for pecking a visitor!

He lives at Tropical Birdland in Desford, Leicestershire (well worth a visit if you're in the area).  It started off as a parrot rescue and is now a lovely park to visit.  They have some exotic species in walk-through aviaries but most of the parrots are free-flying and tame enough to feed from your hand - though you have to watch out for the buttons on your coat!  They also have some very rare hyacinth macaws - magnificent birds!

[Les]

I'm a gardener to trade and I used to maintain a garden in the Colinton area of Edinburgh and there was a noisy feral Cockatoo living in a thick Laylandii hedge nearby.

The customer told me what it was. I don't know what it lived on and I don't know if its still about as I don't do the garden anymore because the house burnt down! 

[VWGolf]

1 hour ago, Les said:

I'm a gardener to trade and I used to maintain a garden in the Colinton area of Edinburgh and there was a noisy feral Cockatoo living in a thick Laylandii hedge nearby.

The customer told me what it was. I don't know what it lived on and I don't know if its still about as I don't do the garden anymore because the house burnt down! 

Oh, dear!  That's sad.  I hope the owner and the cockatoo both survived.  They can live for many years apparently - up to 80 years - which I think is why some of them end up  homeless, having outlived their owner.

[Les]

It was a lovely two story house. I have a photograph of it somewhere. The owner was OK as she was in Sweden at the time. Luckily there were no animals in the house apart for the cat which had escape route through the cat flap. The hedge was untouched as it was some distance away.

[VWGolf]

4 hours ago, Les said:

It was a lovely two story house. I have a photograph of it somewhere. The owner was OK as she was in Sweden at the time. Luckily there were no animals in the house apart for the cat which had escape route through the cat flap. The hedge was untouched as it was some distance away.

Glad it didn't have an tragic ending

[Ryewolf]

Well aught Stella.