Buddy's Page.
Buddy's a Goffin's Cockatoo.  I got him with more than a bit of luck, on both our parts I think!
Buddy, preening
Buddy, preening and looking utterly adorable.  The best pic I've gotten so far - he doesn't much like the camera!
Buddy was given to me by a man who couldn't keep him any longer.  He was, when I got him, on an all-seed diet, and had a seriously overblown ego (perhaps more properly known as a dominance problem ;-), but was otherwise a great bird, especially considering how little his owners knew about bird care.
He has definately improved.  Diet-wise, he's been eating pellets since a few days after I got him.  Behavior-wise... Well, when I first got him, you couldn't even offer a hand for him to step up on, it had to be an arm, and if you wanted to force the issue when he didn't want to step up, or if he was in a bad mood, it had better have been a *sleeved* arm.  Buddy is by far the most... "Heirarchical" (is that a word?) parrot I've ever met.  If you're below him in his personal pecking order, you'd better watch your step.  On the other hand, if you're above him in his little system, he's also the sweetest, and strangely enough the most obediant of my birds!  He's the only one of my birds that will actually do what I say when I tell him to "get down!" or "stop it!" or "come here!"... Ryen just looks at me and continues what he was doing, sometimes adding in a "No!  Quit!" just to let me know he was listening.  Sigh...
 

Buddy always looks best while preening!
But, Buddy likes to push his limits, bend the rules, see how far he can go.  The only times I've gotten bit were when I let him go too far, got him into places where he thought he was in control, and then tried to get him to do something he didn't want to do.  On the other hand, I've definately learned a few of his lessons and it's been a long while since I was bloodied (which is fortunate, since his beak has a tendancy to become overgrown, presumably because of the all-seed diet before he got here, and having that pointy, overly-long upper beak driven into my finger is not a pleasant sensation - sorry, don't mean to be too gory ;-)
He shares a cage with Ryen, which I think is wonderful for him, because Ryen is the only individual in the house that Buddy seems to consider an equal - all the humans in the house have now gained the status of superiors, something similar to parents, and while we're great for cuddles and saying "hello" to (over and over and over and over...), I always get the sense he can only really relax in the company of his equals.  So, I always feel that Ryen is great for him.  For those who are wondering, I know that keeping different species in the same cage is discouraged.  Heck, even the same species in the same cage if you don't want them to bond to one another to the point of excluding people.  But, Ryen and Buddy don't show any signs of that - they both keep each other company when no one else will, but they both seek out the attentions of me and the other people in the household whenever they have the opportunity to do so.  It's rather the ideal arrangement for me - the "best of both worlds" when it comes to single birds versus pairs!
Buddy-bird
Another pic... Not bad, but I hate posting my foot of all things on the internet... That's Josh, stretching, in the background!
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Buddy won this award!
I always knew he was a perfect cockatoo...

The Perfect Cockatoo Award