Dec 11, 2009: Bald cockatoo

Following on the bald emo is this bald parrot from Ft. Lauderdale, who apparently suffers from something called "beacon feather" - she plucks her own feathers out because they irritate her.



Her name is "Oscar" and she is a fixture at the Broward County Humane Society.

(Humans sometimes suffer a similar problem called Trichotillomania - an obsessive-compulsive disorder in which a person pulls out their own hair.)

Telegraph link

Youtuber

poor little thing. reminds me of the kids in Africa with the disease that makes their eyelashes curl into their eyes, so they carry tweezers around their neck to pull them out....

(I thought the Trichotillomania wasn't necessarily to do with the hair irritating the person?)

(looks like she's about to stuff herself in that second picture and save us the bother. Now all she needs to do is add bacon rolls under her wings and we're good to go!)

Cockatoos also pluck their own feathers out because they're sexually frustrated, although I've only ever known of male birds to do that.

Yep. That's nothing but a tiny dinosaur, no question about it.

OK where's the Kangaroo?

I'm all out of bald kangaroo, best I could do was a mangy wombat.

Attachment 25720

Aw.
That's sad (and I always thought it was simply boredom that made a parrot pluck itself bald).

I LOVE IT!

No plucking required prior to cooking.

@ Zen... don't look now, but I think your wombat has expired.

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnhowdy I LOVE IT! No plucking required prior to cooking. @ Zen... don't look now, but I think your wombat has expired.

I have a half plucked cockatoo also. There can be lots of reasons they pluck, and yes, when the feathers start to grow back in it's irritating! HERE is a site that is very down to earth about cockatoos. *Warning* silence your speakers before you click on the site, as it has actual cockatoo sounds emitting from it. The site is, well let me just copy the opening paragraph:
Beautiful and Cuddly.

These are the words normally used to describe one of natures most unusual parrots, the Moluccan Cockatoo. It's unusual in that it's one of the few "lap birds", and acts more like a dog than a bird sometimes. As babies, Moluccans so easily touch your heart that it's hard to walk away from them without taking one home. Their liquid eyes look like black pools of inquisitiveness as they carefully study your facial expressions, and you seem to be able to look right into their very souls. Both Moluccans and Umbrella cockatoos possess a sweetness that few parrots can match, for a while. As all good things must come to an end however, so goes the sweetness as these babies mature. This is not to say that there will be a complete change, but the odds are great that the 'Too you'll wind up-with years later is not the sweetness and light you brought home. Do all birds change? No. Will most change to some degree? You'd better believe it! And it's these changes that sometimes drive owners to rescues.
I didn't go out to buy a cockatoo, I ended up with her as a rescue. She'd been in 3 places in the last 6 months. I've done some bird rescue before, but this is my first 'too. After reading the site, I fully agree with them that cockatoos especially should never be kept in captivity. However, since she was likely never in the wild and I don't live anywhere near her native lands, I'll have to keep her and make sure she has the best home I can provide. It's a daunting task, let me tell you.

Poor wombat, his skin looks so sore and cracked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvZbGUNU_s8
Here's Oscar's Youtube. She does a mean Mick Jagger!

Poor thing. It seriously needs moisturiser.

Oh come on. we want the real IOTD. Sheldon got the turkey wishbone at Thanksgiving and wished for a bold cock or two, and now we're all being punished for your resistance towards getting a hearing aid....

I didn't want to embarass you by SHOUTING, so I just said it Slowly

:p

Wouldn't she rather be fully naked?

Just pluck those last few for her so she can feel all Kojak about her do.