Strange Behavior

Just noticed very wierd thing this morning. Not sure if she is just being goofy, or its something else.

Anyone else ever seen a bird do this?

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Don't worry, its not spam, or a virus, is a video of my Blizzard doing this thing with her wing.

Well....It looks to me like she is having - well - 'relations' with her toy that is behind her. Its not uncommon for Toos to try to breed with their owners or their favorite toys. They do this by rubbing their cloaca on an object. Don't allow her to have any nesting material. Toos have a big problem when it comes to excessive egg laying, which can cause potential health problems ( egg bound, cloacal prolapse, vitamin deficiencies, etc.).

She has been shredding the newspaper in her cage alot recently. She shreds it all up in to tiny bits. But this is the first Time I've seen that behavior. She is 15 years old. Very affectionate, and well mannered.

Don't you have to feed them a certain type of food for them to lay eggs? She has never laid an egg before.

No she doesn't have to be on a special food in order to lay eggs. In fact she will lay eggs even if shes malnourished. If her body doesn't have enough calcium then she will still produce an egg, the risk would be that the egg's shell would be very thin and when shes tying to pass the egg it could break inside of her (very very bad). Also her body will take calcium from where ever it needs to in order to lay an egg (i.e. from her bones), causing all kinds of problems. You just don't want to encourage egg laying. Just make sure she is on a complete diet. You don't want too much calcium in her diet either (would be equally as bad for her).

The paper shredding is something that all Toos love, even the males. At the end of the day just pick up all the shredded pieces and don't allow her to form a nest out of them. I give mine phone books to shred, shes loves them. Everyday I just pick up the shredded pieces so that it doesn't encourage her to nest. You just don't want to encourage egg laying. Some lay eggs like crazy, some don't. She may never lay an egg and you may never have a problem. But I would do some research so that you are prepared in case a problem arises, also so that you can detect signs and symptoms of a problem early - avoiding a potentially life threatening situation.

She is masturbating herself on the swing.
My female YNA Lila tries to do this with anything that is placed correctly for it.
She has been shredding up paper for months too.
I am going to try cutting the lights in the room that she is in & covering her cage earlier & see if that changes her paper shredding behavior.

Cockatoos tend to do this (especially females), because people pet them very intensely (because they're sweet and cuddley). Do not stroke down her back, cut the day light hours down (anywhere from 10 to 6 hours of daylight), also make sure she only has enough food to finish during thhat time (excessive amounts of available food stimulate birds into breeding behavoir at times.