 My name is Marlene McCohen, and this is Picasso, my mustache parakeet, who's usually very chill, but I'm going to show you why he's not today because I am here with Jersey, my umbrella cockatoo. Jersey say hi. And she, I know you want kisses. She hates being in front of the camera. It's the oddest thing. It's like she knows that the camera has just turned on. She will let me take a picture with her, but once I press record, it's like she just wants to be in my lap and not show up. It's just amazing how animals know these things. I find it so fascinating. So there might be a point in the video where Picasso decides that he has to go down and hang out with Jersey, and then I lose both birds for the video. Look at him staring at her. Usually he stares at me, but you see how he's looking down. He wants to know everything that she's doing. It's so funny. Jersey is here because we are going to tell the story of how I got Jersey. I never told you guys this before. It's kind of a cute story, so I thought you guys might enjoy hearing it. There's a lot of information about Jersey that I don't know, but I want to tell you guys what I do know. So here's Jersey's story. Jersey's story reminds me a little bit of the bachelor or the bachelorette. Let me tell you why. When I first met George, just like I did with any potential suitor, I decided that I would have to gauge how much they really liked birds. Not only that, but I wanted to see what kind of birds that they would be into because I think sometimes that tells a lot about a person. And I kind of felt that George might be into cockatoos if you knew anything about them. Now of course he was trying to befriend my birds, which was George, my African gray, and Picasso at the time. But I didn't know if he was doing that to impress me or if he really was going to have a thing for birds. And I found that to be kind of important, as you know. Look at Picasso's just sitting down here. Picasso, come up here and hang out. I know she's down here. You guys can see Jersey now, right? She just wants to cuddle. It's so funny. So one day, just like in the bachelor or bachelorette, when they have that one date where they bring the dog just to see how it goes with the dog and everything, I decided to drag George into the bird store because I know that the sound of the birds in the bird store, either he's ready for it or he's not. And you know, we have a cockatoo at home at my brother's place. So I wanted to see like how prepared he was. Well, we walk into the store and there's all these birds on stands and there's a lot of noise and there's a lot of hello and Lucy, Lucy. There's always a bird in there saying that for some reason. And there's birds going, hey, and all this loudness. And I just want to gauge if it looks like overwhelming or if it's like, wow, animals, I love animals because if it's not number two, it's not going to happen, right? So I just wanted to check it out. Well, we're going around and I'm thinking to myself, let's approach all of the small birds, you know, cockatiels and conures. Let's have a nice little introduction and see how that goes. Well, there's this bird, a cockatoo, plucked, not completely, but a little bit plucked. You could see that the tail is damaged and there's like some feathers missing. And I think to myself, wow, this is kind of a good opportunity to show George what a cockatoo feels like because he's probably never got to hold a cockatoo. And of course I want to introduce him to the behavior of a cockatoo and how loving and cuddly they are. Or I'm hoping this bird is, I don't know anything about this bird, right? So this bird is standing there and I feel a little bit sad for the bird, but the bird seems sweet. I can't tell. I don't know. I didn't even try anything yet. I'm just analyzing the bird, looking at it, trying to approach with any caution. And suddenly the bird just jumps onto George's arm and I'm like, okay, okay, calm down. This is like how you handle her. And he didn't even need me. He was like, oh, look at her. And I'm like, you could probably scratch the head. You know, just showing him how cockatoo's cuddle and how cute it is. And he's doing that. And then this is my opportunity now just to get him used to it. I say, you know, you don't choose a bird. A bird chooses you. I just wanted to see like the mentality and he's like, uh-huh, yeah. There was nothing to it and then we move on. And the bird goes back on the stand and we basically move on. Look at all the other birds. Well, then George goes around again and the bird does the same thing. Like looking like, I want to hug you. And George like melts and starts holding the bird. And I'm like, okay, this is good. Like he's a guy that likes birds. This is very, very important because you know what I would do if someone didn't like birds, bye-bye relationship. So anyway, I'm very pleased that he's cuddling with this bird. And I think to myself, hmm, he probably is a cockatoo person. You know, needs a lot of like love and constant affection. I just thought that he might be too because my dad really likes cockatoos and my brother really likes cockatoos. It's just kind of a certain personality that I can tell. So I kind of reiterated a bit and I said, look at how she loves you. She chose you. That was it. I really didn't mean anything by it. I was just trying to ingrain in his brain that this is how it works with birds. They're very friendly. I want you to know that you've never had an experience with a cockatoo one day down the road. Maybe you'll have a cockatoo. And that was it. So then I asked in the pet store about the bird. I said, hey, why is the bird missing feathers? And he told me that the bird was bought by somebody and they had the bird for, I can't remember how long, maybe it was like eight months or a year. I can't remember. And they ignored the bird. They said the bird was difficult. The bird wouldn't stop screaming. The bird was loud. The bird needed attention. The bird got possessive over the dad and the family. All these things, it really sounded like very inexperienced parrot owners. So basically the guy in the bird store was doing them a favor and let them bring the bird back to see if somebody else would buy it. So now there's this whole story to the bird. And we find out about this and I'm thinking of myself because I can't even handle this. I'm like, yeah, because the bird is a plucker. And I know that Ty was a plucker. Ty wasn't our first cockatoo as you guys know from our Duffy story. But I thought to myself, oh wow, Ty has come around. Ty was a plucker. I'd probably be a perfect person for this bird. But that's what I think every time I come in contact with any kind of bird with any kind of trouble seriously. So I wasn't thinking anything about taking the bird home. So that was it. And then George cuddled the bird a little bit more and then we left. So I continue to hang out with George. Every so often he mentions the bird. And I'm like, yeah, you know, a bird chooses you. You don't choose a bird. And then I put a story in his head. I'm like, that poor bird had like a tough life. And now the bird just wants somebody to love. And what if you're its only chance at love? And this had no effect on the bird, obviously. This is just me and him talking. I just kind of want to test the waters and see like how much love he has for the bird, how much desire he might have for the bird. You know, it's kind of like a two minute conversation every once in a while. And then that's it. I wasn't serious. I didn't need another bird. And he never really responded to it much. He didn't say, oh, I want to go get her or anything like that. I never heard anything out of him. So I really couldn't gauge how bad he felt. He just kind of said, no, don't say that to me. I think it was kind of a thought that this would be disturbing. So let's not talk about it. Let's move on. Well, one day I'm in my apartment. I don't remember what I was doing, just probably hanging out. And I hear my door banging insanely. Now at the time I had this insane landlord. I wouldn't describe her as insane. I would describe her more as nosy. And it just kind of irritated me. And she was right there, like the apartment next door. So if this banging is her, I'm going to just lose my mind. And if it isn't her, oh my God, you're definitely going to get her attention. And by the way, this landlord had a problem with me having birds. And she wasn't even the landlord when I moved in. She moved in two years later. And then suddenly was like, oh, I found out you have birds. What should we do about this? I'm like, lady, you're a little late to this party. So anyway, I hear banging on the door. Like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Oh my God, what's going on? I go to the door, I open it and there's George. And he has a box and he goes, let me in, let me in. And he runs to my bedroom and he puts the box on the bed and opens it and there's Jersey. Right, Jersey? Were you in the box? Jersey's in the box. I'm like, what did you do? Suddenly the bird pops out. He's like, I couldn't stop thinking about her. The way she cuddled me and the way she just loved me. I knew I had to go get her. I'm like, wait a minute, hold on. Like one, are you insane? You didn't even tell me you were gonna go get this bird. I thought you were at work. What are you doing here? Two, where is this bird gonna live? Cause we don't live together. So what's going on right now? Three, oh my God, is this relationship gonna last? I hope so because who gets the bird now? This is all like what's really going through my mind. And then I look at her little face and I'm like, oh my God, this bird is so cute. I'm gonna give her all the love in the world. And of course she loves George. That's like her main person, right? So I asked him what happened. He said, I couldn't stop thinking about her story. So I went to the bird store and I said, is she still available? And he said, no, I sold her, but she was there. And he said, she's right here. And he said, yeah, she's here, but I sold her to a guy already she's already paid for. And George apparently looked really sad. And he said, well, why is she still here then? And the pet store owner said, because she's gonna go to a guy that wants two birds and they just want the birds to be in a cage somewhere. Apparently like he has a mansion and he wants two cockatoos in an Avery just to be there. And so since the bird store only had one, this was the bird that he got. But he had never seen the bird that he had paid for. He just basically called and ordered and said, I don't want one alone. Wait till you get the other one. And then I'll come get them. So George said, wait a minute. If he's never met the bird, can you please order him another cockatoo and maybe just call him and see if I can have this one? So the bird store owner called the guy that bought the bird and asked him, hey, I got someone here who's really in love with this bird. Do you mind if I just order you two more? And he's like, yeah, I don't care. That's fine. Heartbreaking. It means somewhere there's gonna be two other cockatoos stuck in a cage. But at the same time, this one is gonna get a new lease on life, right? That's what I think. I'm like, yay, you got the bird. I can't believe it. It's meant to be. And he's just like, yes, she loves me. And you know, he's hugging her and kissing her and we buy her all these toys. And we wanna make sure that she's completely engaged, of course. And so begins our life with Jersey. Now, about her feather picking, it was so much harder than I thought. I really thought that the way we handled things with Ty, those things would apply to Jersey. And sometimes she really did get better. And back in the day, I have pictures of her with almost all of her feathers because if you think about it, she wasn't really missing all of her feathers at that time on her chest. So it was a lot easier for things to grow in and for her to get her tail back because she was kind of missing her tail too. But a lot of times with cockatoos, they have anxieties already. And just like a human being that bites their nails or pulls out their hair or deals with a depression or anxiety, sometimes it's very hard to change these things. But I do think that even though Jersey has had some downfalls, there's lots of different things that I've been trying with her. And I know some of you have definitely seen improvements in Jersey. She improves all the time. And then sometimes there's that one day that something happens and I'm like, no, baby, why did you pull out your tail feather or your wing feather? And it's so heartbreaking. I really am going to do a video for you guys on plucking and all the ways you can help because there's so many things I've done that I've noticed really, really do help her. And if you really watch your bird's behavior, you can discover what types of things are giving them anxiety and try to reduce all of those elements. Those things aren't possible. But that's all for another video. In the meantime, that's the story of Jersey. She was with a family before. I don't exactly know everything that happened with that family. I just know that she acquired some form of anxiety. She's a little bit smaller than all other umbrella cockatoos. A few months after we got her, we got her DNA tested and I'll never forget when the notice came in the mail because it said to Jersey. And then when George opened it and found out she was a girl, he had the cutest reaction. He was like, it's a girl, my baby. And then the way he behaved towards her just was so different. It was like, oh, she's a little girl. I don't know why it was just so interesting to watch that kind of human behavior too towards an animal. And Jersey really is one of the sweetest birds you'll ever meet with the best heart, right, baby? She's such a good bird. She's so sweet. She loves to play. She loves to dance. She loves to sing. She thinks she has a good voice, but she has a terrible voice, right, Jersey? And most of all, she loves love. But the funniest part of this entire story is if you guys follow my channel and know my videos, you know that Jersey does what she did to George to every single guy that walks into this house. So even though George felt very special, and even though I was like, you know, you don't choose a bird, a bird chooses you, this bird was choosing every which guy that she possibly could as far as I know. I mean, how many guys do you think she flirted with in the store? I have no idea. I never found out what happened with the family that gave up the bird if they missed her or anything like that. Sometimes with those things, I'm terrified to ask because I don't want to remind the store owner anything about it. Like, oh yeah, he's trying to get them back. I'm just like, thank you, bye-bye. I'm gonna buy food for like five months so that, you know, it's out of the system and you don't see me. Remember I did the same thing with Cody. I didn't even get Cody's cage. I was just like, thank you, bye-bye. Putting this in my convertible now. Oh, you have a carry cage. All right, let's go. And now when I call them to try and find out things about Cody, surprise, surprise, they didn't give me the cage or anything. But yeah, see that's what happens. I was afraid if I waited a day, I wouldn't have been able to save Cody either. So that's the story of Jersey. I see that you guys asked me that a lot and I realized that it's a perfect time to tell you guys. The reason I didn't tell you before is because it's so hard to get her in a video and I always feel like for her own video she needs to be in it, right, baby? Look at her. Like she just instinctively knows. Like she comes down. You want to say hi? No, she doesn't. Okay, and then Picasso is going to leave too. So now you guys get to see another aspect of Picasso because all he does is wants to be with his wife. By the way, watch Picasso getting interviewed about his wife. You'll kind of like that video. Well, that is it guys. Thank you guys so much for watching The Storytime Sunday. I hope you had as good time as I enjoyed telling it. Please follow me on Instagram at Marlene McOwen. Subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. We love, love new subscribers. Check out Parrot Station on Facebook. That is my Facebook group for those of you who want to come on. Enjoy and show me your birds. Thank you guys so much for watching. Bye.