CRAZY long story about cockatoo drama!

noodles123

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OY! This is a story about Noodles' neurotic side --it is probably boring to read, but it was ASTOUNDING, so I had to share.

So, about a week ago, 1 of the lights in my 5-bulb ceiling fixture went out in the dining room (where Noodles' window perch is located)--- The bulb flickered for about 5 seconds and I removed it as soon as that started... Anyway, after that, Noodles spent the entire day looking up at it like a weirdo (transfixed)...
THEN, she was acting like she was talking to someone when no one was around and that was creepy...lol (but this is all leading up to a point, I promise)...
SO, a day after the bulb went out, my neighbor got a new stove and the old one sat on her lawn for a day before they could come get rid of it. Noodles woke up, went to her perch, looked out the window, and saw this black stove and red moving Dolly, so she started doing her scared scream non-stop. Noodles is OBSESSED with my neighbor, by the way...(that fact will be relevant eventually).
My first thought was to shut the window and pray she she just would forget about it...FAIL....after she screamed periodically for the whole afternoon, she went to bed and my neighbor's old stove was moved that night.
The next day, I am thinking life will be good again, but no...still screaming...
So I moved the dolly....STILL screaming...I looked closely and saw a mop head was sticking out of the trash in my neighbors yard, so I moved it, and the screaming decreased...Success! I thought..But the next day, she continued to scream (albeit less).
This is when it even weirder-- I went to pick her up the next day (and she is always SUPER eager) but, this time, she clung to her perch. She WANTED to be with me, but wouldn't step up without me prying her toes off the perch...This happened repeatedly, and this was very very strange..So, after prying her off, she wouldn't even sit at the window (her fav spot before all of this) and would scramble frantically when we passed it). When she finally went on her window perch, she started screaming "back back back come here"...followed by more fear screaming..In a desperate attempt to solve the problem, I called my neighbor and asked her to come talk to Noodles through the window (b/c it occurred to me that, since I went back to work, Noodles is no longer seeing her in the yard daily). Neighbor came to the window and Noodles was like, "hi Noodles, I love you" x20. I genuinely think she thought that the stove and dolly had harmed my neighbor and was worried that she was dead or something lol!
Anyway, this reduced the screaming completely, BUT, she was still refusing to step up...Yesterday morning, in a last resort move, I put a new light bulb into the empty slot on the ceiling fixture (the one that burned out the day before the stove) and I kid you not--- AS SOON AS IT WAS IN THERE, she started stepping up again and sitting on her window perch. It was to the point where she was eating less and confining herself to her cage!!!! MY GOSH! 5 days of this hell. On top of all of this, me returning to work has made her super hormonal, so she has been doing that sexual quiver frequently (sometimes when I just look at her)---SO, you can imagine how concerning this collective behavior change must have been..

In the end, the solution was:
Prove that neighbor is not dead (after removing "threats"- stove, dolly, mop) and replace burnt out light bulb...WTF?! I was racking my brain....

The light bulb thing is the most shocking, as the room was still plenty bright without it, and it is a cup-style, hanging fixture, so she couldn't even see the empty hole...and I couldn't tell a difference at all, but apparently she could and it freaked her out.

Her hormonal quivering also decreased when this finally came to an end (but not entirely)...I just cannot believe how strange they can be lol!
 
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Inger

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Oh my word! Poor baby! She was like MOM MAKE EVERYTHING NORMAL AGAIN.


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wrench13

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Good story! Illustrates how incomprehensible the mind of birds are, and cockatoos in particular. Good on you for figuring out what was affecting her - I would have been completely stumped.
 

Scott

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Truly amazing story! I must say Noodles is far more sensitive than mine - they are amazingly tolerant of change.

You must know Noodles cut you a huge break with the light bulb. Unless you secured replacement from identical production lot, she must see subtle changes of luminescence and color. Her eyes are far more sensitive than any digital camera! :D
 

Laurasea

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wow
Thats more drama than I could take on
But I can just picture her staring out the window with the crap light from the missing bulb, trying to figure out the mystery lol
 
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fiddlejen

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Awwww. Poor Noodles! One of the overhead protective lightbulbs went out, which allowed the big scary stove monster, and its henchmen, to attack her friend the neighbor. LUckily the neighbor survived!

But you... you left Noodles un-protected from that monster for a Whole Week before you got a new lightbulb to protect her! Ohh, how could you do such a thing?!!? (You are very lucky that Noodles has forgiven you!)
 
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noodles123

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Truly amazing story! I must say Noodles is far more sensitive than mine - they are amazingly tolerant of change.

You must know Noodles cut you a huge break with the light bulb. Unless you secured replacement from identical production lot, she must see subtle changes of luminescence and color. Her eyes are far more sensitive than any digital camera! :D

Oh believe me, I thought about that and was like....God forbid she hates the mix of fluorescent and LED!!!
 
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noodles123

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wow
Thats more drama than I could take on
But I can just picture her staring out the window with the crap light from the missing bulb, trying to figure out the mystery lol

IT WAS STILL SUPER BRIGHT IN THE ROOM LOL! 4 SUPER bright LEDs (and now, one lowly, 60 watt fluorescent lol)-- Honestly though- it's pretty bright despite the wattage difference
 
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noodles123

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Awwww. Poor Noodles! One of the overhead protective lightbulbs went out, which allowed the big scary stove monster, and its henchmen, to attack her friend the neighbor. LUckily the neighbor survived!

But you... you left Noodles un-protected from that monster for a Whole Week before you got a new lightbulb to protect her! Ohh, how could you do such a thing?!!? (You are very lucky that Noodles has forgiven you!)

YES-- this is pretty much what happened I think. I mean, the light bulb going out freaked her out, but she was ok.....then the stove, dolly, and mop were terrifying, followed by her realization that her love from next-door hadn't paid her a visit in weeks and was likely a casualty of the evil stove which had previously been kept away by the now-extinguished light lol!!
 

Laurasea

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wow
Thats more drama than I could take on
But I can just picture her staring out the window with the crap light from the missing bulb, trying to figure out the mystery lol

IT WAS STILL SUPER BRIGHT IN THE ROOM LOL! 4 SUPER bright LEDs (and now, one lowly, 60 watt fluorescent lol)-- Honestly though- it's pretty bright despite the wattage difference
I was only poking fun , I didn't think tge one bulb was truly making for crap light, you said you couldn't even see a difference
But for Noodles this was a crap situation!!!
 
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noodles123

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wow
Thats more drama than I could take on
But I can just picture her staring out the window with the crap light from the missing bulb, trying to figure out the mystery lol

IT WAS STILL SUPER BRIGHT IN THE ROOM LOL! 4 SUPER bright LEDs (and now, one lowly, 60 watt fluorescent lol)-- Honestly though- it's pretty bright despite the wattage difference
I was only poking fun , I didn't think tge one bulb was truly making for crap light, you said you couldn't even see a difference
But for Noodles this was a crap situation!!!

I knew you were lol! I was just expressing my distress at my wilting flower of a bird lol!
 

Laurasea

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I had gotten a new pink tie dye soft pretty shirt. My quaker Pikachu went into a screaming mess at the sight of it......sigh.....it took me a few minutes to figure out. I decided to give tge pretty oh so soft shirt a second chance and see was it really tge shirt?? Oh heck yeah it was, total panic flying and screaming... i had to give the shirt to my mom who loves it!!!!!
I don't understand the reaction, I wear pink, I wear lots of colorful stuff, no other new shirts have gotten this reaction! Ugh!!!@
 
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noodles123

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LOL- YES..very similar...weirdos...
 

FrancisMom

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This story was anything BUT boring! It's a fascinating behavioral psychology study! I even read it to my husband. Don Scott at the Chloe Sanctuary calls cockatoos functionally autistic, and I think this story illustrates that very well.
 
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noodles123

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This story was anything BUT boring! It's a fascinating behavioral psychology study! I even read it to my husband. Don Scott at the Chloe Sanctuary calls cockatoos functionally autistic, and I think this story illustrates that very well.

Haha, thanks! They really do have so many tendencies commonly associated with ASD. I agree, for sure.
 

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