 Hello my sniffers, my name is Marlene McCohen and this is Vinnie, my Gullah cockatoo. He is such a sweet little bird and Vinnie and I would love to welcome you to Parent Tip Tuesday. Today we're going to continue our series about my specific birds and what it's like to live with this type of parrot. So today we are doing Vinnie, right Vinnie? Hopefully Vinnie will be interested in staying to participate in this video because it's all about you Vinnie. Now before I get started I want to remind you, watch my favorites Friday video because you can enter to win the tent giveaway, the little parrot tent, it's so cute. We're going to be doing that on Friday so you still have time to watch the video, follow the rules and enter because we will be choosing three very lucky winners, right Vinnie? Maybe Vinnie will help me, I have no idea. So let's talk about what it's like to have a bird like Vinnie. For those of you who don't know anything about Gullah cockatoos, they're also called rose-breasted cockatoos, they're from Australia, they fly in very very large flocks, sometimes 500 to a thousand birds, which means that they are very social. So let's talk about what it's like to live with Vinnie. Out of all of the cockatoos, I would say that these are some of the quietest in terms of screaming all day. In terms of when they do scream, they can be very loud and extremely playful and extremely cute, but that's where Vinnie kind of differs. He tends to be really really quiet. If you watched my story time Sunday last week and saw him get caught in my shirt, you'll hear that loud scream that he does. Well Vinnie does that when he's scared of something or sometimes when he is playing, but truthfully he does that very rarely, although I know other cockatoos like Vinnie that love to hang out and play and make noises like that all the time. So every bird is very very different. Now one thing about these cockatoos that makes them a little bit easier than other cockatoos is that they do like to have their alone time. So Vinnie thrives on his moments when he gets to play with his own toys in his own area and his own space. Most of the time that means out of his cage because of course you know I advocate being engaged and not caged, so I put a lot of toys and things for Vinnie to do on top of his cage because if I don't he will go find a way to make a toy out of something himself. Namely the walls, that pillow fort that he's looking into right now, the siding, you have to be really careful. These birds chew a lot, right Vinnie? On parrot station one of my members just got a rose-breasted cockatoo and named it Vinnie. I think if I remember correctly I warned her, I said hey you might not want to name it Vinnie. Next thing a video is posted of her Vinnie destroying all of the newspapers on the wall that she put up and I'm like uh-huh this is just the beginning. So that's one thing to know, they love to chew. So you have to be able to provide your cockatoo with a lot of different safe materials to chew up for them to be busy all day long because that's very important to them. If you don't they're going to chew up anything that they can find and in my case with my Vinnie that can often be the walls or the molding or whatever he decided to get his beak on. Vinnie loves boxes but not exactly in a mating behavior sort of way, he just wants to peel all the layers off of the box. He's not even interested in making it like a nest, I mean if it is that season then I would be careful of that but Vinnie in general if a new package comes to the house like he walks down and he walks around and he investigates it it's like a kid seeing candy or an adult seeing like a really beautiful car you know they get their eyes on it and they look at it and then they come over and closer that's what Vinnie is like with every single box that comes to the house. I can give Vinnie a new box and he'll just play with it by himself and entertain himself for hours and hours and hours. That's one thing that's really good about Vinnie is he can be kind of a loner and that is something that I've heard a lot of rose rested cockatoo owners say is that their bird doesn't mind hanging out alone and in fact prefers some alone time for a majority of the day. Remember alone time doesn't always mean locked up it means that they just have a lot to do and a lot to play with and you don't need to be interacting with them all of the time. However they love interaction Vinnie loves kisses and love Vinnie is actually my biggest love bug. Now he loves kisses and cuddles. He doesn't exactly love to be pet in the way Jersey does as you see but if I do pet him he has the silkiest feathers you would ever feel in your entire life. These cockatoos aren't exactly as cuddly as umbrellas or other kinds of cockatoos. You can cuddle them a little bit you can pet them you can definitely give them head scratches. Remember every bird is different yours might be a cuddle bug. I can pick up Vinnie and give him kisses I just want to like eat him I don't know how to explain it he's just the sweetest sweetest bird in that way and here I am describing Vinnie as the biggest love bug but he keeps flying away from me and that is something that is important to note and I'm gonna tell you why a lot of these birds specifically tend to be moody. Vinnie can give me so much love and you'll watch on my Instagram how he'll come in and kiss me and then leave and then kiss and then leave and he'll do that like 30 times in a row and his kisses are just so amazing and all the love is amazing and then after like some time he's just like thank you I'm out buh-bye like and that's it like there's no more trying with him you know he's like I need my time now where's my box put me back or he'll just fly back himself. Speaking of flying it's very important for these birds to be flighted oh I'm sorry I have to go Vinnie's gonna eat the wall. Speaking of flighted it's really important that these birds get ample amount of exercise so if you can keep them flighted or flight train them that's the best thing for the bird as you see Vinnie is sometimes it's hard to manage because I gotta make sure he doesn't chew that wall but with some ample space and lots of things to play with because this is in his room right now so he's looking for new things to do then you could keep them quite entertained. Now Rose Breasted Cockatoos also need the exercise of flying so if you can have a flight trained bird that exercise is going to be so beneficial to your bird to prevent tumors and fatty liver disease and things like that that these birds are prone to so remember that's really important so if you are looking into getting a cockatoo like Vinnie that's something to think about like do you have kids do you keep the door open do you enjoy life outside are you able to flight train your bird are you able to keep your bird on a harness things like that you have to be really prepared for that and speaking of flying here's something that I've heard a lot of you tell me especially on Parrot Station I hear this discussed and this actually applies to Vinnie too I've told you this before of why there were times that he wasn't able to fly there were times that he was wing clipped especially when I first rescued Vinnie and I discovered this about his personality it became a little dangerous so we had to restart again with Vinnie so if you guys don't know already Vinnie is a rescue he was brought to me by somebody who had needed a home for him and they didn't even really know where Vinnie came from and I swear to you just like the Cody story an hour before I was in the bird store kissing some sort of rose-breasted cockatoo there for the second year in a row and I said I want a cockatoo like this one day I kid you not I go upstairs and I get a phone call saying hey do you still like birds I have this bird that would be great for you and that's how I got Vinnie however I soon learned that as nice as Vinnie was to me which was very interesting considering he's done this to everybody else since then Vinnie Vinnie will plan very detailed flight attacks on innocent people wow you really don't want to be in this video today so what Vinnie would do when we first got him which we didn't know because he was the sweetest most tame bird with me he would first of all pretend that he wants a kiss from someone and all the girls that met Vinnie loved Vinnie so they would go in for a kiss and I swear I thought it was safe because he would kiss me so much and act like the sweetest bird and then he would bite their lip and clamp on to it and not let go now you guys know that this does not mean that all birds do this and it does not mean that all rose-breasted cockatoos do this I'm just telling you Vinnie's history and Vinnie's personality but what he would do is if he wanted a fly to someone and if he landed on them he would attack and he would clamp his beak on to their face or wherever he caught on their back their neck their shoulder and he would not let go and then they would panic and he would panic and it would get worse and worse and worse and ultimately it would become a very dangerous situation now Vinnie is not the only cockatoo that I've heard of like this and it's funny because they have the smallest beaks out of almost all of the cockatoo species out there yet they are able to clamp on so good that it can frighten the life out of you I swear there are people in our house more scared of Vinnie than Rocky and that's very interesting because Rocky's beak is so huge so you have to be prepared if you get a cockatoo like Vinnie to handle those kind of situations because like I said he's not the only one that I've heard of with those behaviors and keep in mind they are very moody Vinnie has gotten way past this now if he flies and lands on someone I'll still have that instinct to say don't move don't panic but he also won't bite although I did tell you guys he bit George the other day on his back so that did happen but Vinnie really has come a long way such a long way that obviously you see that he's flighted now and he handles the house people are not scared of him the way they used to be he's gone through a lot of training with me in this house so Vinnie is actually doing really well but you have to be prepared depending on how young your bird was when you got him if you got him from somewhere else who in the family he takes to that's why these birds are not a good bird to start with really no cockatoos are but it's just something that you need to be aware of the good the bad the unpredictable when you get a bird do set out imagining that you're gonna have this flying hitchcock bird at you like trying to attack the hell out of you no you probably don't imagine that at all but that's what it could be like and I tell you of the worst on purpose because I want you to be prepared I don't want birds out there being abandoned because nobody told them these things do they talk yes actually they can talk and they can make noises and they can do really cute things my Vinnie doesn't really talk in a way that you know what he's saying sometimes he does and sometimes amazingly he repeats things right after us that sounds exactly like the sentence I said but he sounds so much like an R2D2 or something then I don't know if that is in fact what he said so that's all is interesting but there are other rose-breasted cockatoos that talk so much better than Vinnie and so much clearer so if you set out to find a bird because you want a talking bird well you should never do that because you may get a bird like Picasso that doesn't talk at all or like Vinnie that talks in such a way that you don't even know what he's saying right Vinnie and you have to be willing to accept that because not all birds will talk well and not all birds will talk the same same with the jersey she talks she says a few things but she sounds like a bird while there are other cockatoos that sound so great when they talk so you just don't know what you're going to get and that's a really important thing to know before you buy a bird but what else is it like living with Vinnie? Vinnie needs a really large space to play and hang out Vinnie likes to jump from spot to spot and play and hang upside down and do a lot of interesting things but Vinnie is also a little bit older for sure I don't know how old he was when I got him but I was sure when I looked at him that he was definitely older than 15 I could just tell just because I know birds so Vinnie I think had passed a lot of the hormonal stages and because of that I think he's a lot more chill he likes his alone time a lot he likes to be busy with himself a lot that doesn't mean you could get this kind of bird and let them hang out it means that you have to be providing the entertainment for them to hang out themselves if they want but with you if they want now Vinnie has a very interesting time schedule he wakes up at the same time as all of the other birds but I let him stay up later because he's older I kind of treat my birds a little bit like their kids cockatoos need a really good amount of sleep so always remember that but for whatever reason Vinnie specifically and this is where you have to be in tune with your bird Vinnie wants more than anything at nine o'clock at night to start hanging out with me these birds go to bed at 10 but at nine that's when Vinnie's like okay I totally want to hang with you there's times when I go to get Vinnie out of the cage and I want to hang with him and he doesn't want to hang with me he's like no and he is clear about that and most of the other birds are not they want to be with me all of the time when he says no it's not an untamed bird that doesn't want to come out because he's scared it's a tame bird that is telling me nah I think I'm good right now that's what Vinnie is like but that doesn't mean that your cockatoo would be like that these birds need a lot of entertainment and because of their moodyness that they're known to have and I don't mean moodyness in an aggressive way even though Vinnie has displayed that kind of moodyness it's a good idea to be in tune with these birds to know when maybe it's time to not push the issue and let them have their relaxing time could also be because Vinnie's a little bit older but they do have a lot of independence that a lot of other cockatoos don't have or don't desire at all like I swear Jersey desires absolutely no independence for those of you who are new to my channel that is my umbrella cockatoo she has FOMO she doesn't want to miss out on anything she doesn't want to go to sleep when it's time to go to sleep even if she's tired and cranky Vinnie is the type that I'll pull out the covers and I'll be like time for bed and he'll like walk into his cage like oh thank god I'm so ready for this quietness that's what Vinnie is like what are you doing I hear something bad oh but you look so good and innocent you look so good he's so cute back there Vinnie is an excellent dancer I think that his dancing is unmatched he does a huge head roll when he dances I gotta start putting up dancing Vinnie videos if you guys want to see him on instagram dancing just go to my profile at Marlene McCohen and watch him or you could use the hashtag dancing Vinnie and just check I think there's like three or four videos of him dancing he's actually very amazing he's a great dancer so I'm going to have to put some dancing videos for you guys except Vinnie likes to dance to me singing so I have to sing like these ridiculous songs like I don't know Britney Spears not that that's ridiculous I love Britney but just saying that's what Vinnie wants me to sing to him so I have to sing like hit me baby one more time to get him in the groove or beatbox and clearly I don't beatbox I'd love to learn so I do like this pathetic beatbox for Vinnie to dance he has a lot of soul and a lot of personality and another thing about Vinnie he's extremely intelligent he's the creepiest bird in terms of intelligence it's like he pretends he doesn't understand things meaning like in terms of responding the way like an african gray does but he understands things like if you say no Vinnie you can't go outside he will just like attack him bite you like okay we were good until you told me no Vinnie has that kind of attitude it's very interesting Vinnie really likes girls but he's a prankster he pretends he wants to kiss them and love them but he'll just bite your lip and it really is kind of dangerous because when people come into the house and he's doing like and he makes it look like he wants to kiss he bites he also laughs at tragedies so we call him evil kaneval if somebody falls or trips or I don't know anything happens to someone he laughs he also laughs after he bites you I don't know where all this came from I mean obviously had all this before we got him so that's what Vinnie is like he's a lot of fun he's really cute he's much more low maintenance compared to the other birds but that's just his personality to start with a cockatoo like him you're talking about a lot of high maintenance I have a bird that has passed the hormonal stage he's a little bit older he has also had his aggressive moments and he likes a lot of alone time he's kind of like an old geezer sometimes like a grumpy old man that's what Vinnie is like and then he throws these tantrums you guys have seen where he lifts his wings and he tells you stuff and he says that to every new person that comes into the house if you come into my house and you want to meet Vinnie I'll be like let's meet Vinnie and I'll hold him up and he'll lift his wings and he'll just start talking to you and preaching about God knows what I tell everyone he's preaching about being engaged and not caged and they really like that so that is what it's like living with this little handsome silky smooth kissing man grumpy old man that I love so much while he throws his tantrums and gets in his moods and wants to not hang out with mommy anymore right that's what it's like hanging out with him he also has a little bit of an anger issue like if I walk in and walk by him without saying hi which I don't do but let's say I had to pick up another bird and walk by him he'll start banging things in the cage because he wants to let me know that he needs his love and attention and then sometimes I'll go in to get him after that and he's like oh no I'm not coming to you so they're very smart extremely intelligent extremely funny to be with very playful so that's what it's like living with this guy I hope you enjoyed this parrot tip Tuesday on these special cockatoos please like comment and subscribe to my channel we love new subscribers and on that note I don't think there's anything else to say but bye bye thank you guys