Umbrella's

Umbrella Colony Notes This Colony is Full

We are not accepting Umbrella’s

Overall Mood: This is an extremely active colony. They are dancing, screaming, hanging upside down, swinging, flying, chasing each other and they love to play with everything. Wow, do they have fun! They like to wander around, foraging on the ground. They dig in the wood chips, drag toy parts around, make soup in their water bowl and are extremely destructive. We have to replace their perches frequently. They are so busy! And, the drama….it is a soap opera.

This colony, like the other Cockatoo, Macaw and Grey colonies, does not have a flock leader. There are assertive males but, no leader. The male / female ratio is about, 60/40. Umbrellas unlike most other Cockatoo species, are known to be prolific breeders in captivity. We have had no pairs form, and, no egg laying. We attribute this, to the fact that there is no nesting site. No pairs have formed, they live together as a platonic group.

Many people say, “I can never give my Umbrella enough attention” they are a bottomless pit. They always want more attention. In the colony / flock situation, they get attention from each other, all day, everyday. Once acclimated to the flock, they no longer beg for human attention. They are no longer desperate. There is a remarkable the change in their body language.

We have several “pet” Umbrella’s that were obtained years ago prior to opening, The Cockatoo Rescue and Sanctuary. We will use one of them, named Monkey as an example. Handfed from day one, Monkey is a typical female Umbrella, snuggly, loving, babyish and a bottomless pit for attention, a Velcro bird. She would sleep under a blanket while we watch TV. I never thought that she would enjoy living in a flock, she is too needy. A few years ago, we ended up placing our Cockatoo pets into the colonies while we did some house painting. The first few days the birds pouted. It was similar to little kids the first day of kindergarten. Mom don’t leave me! Then after a few days….they started having so much fun….they did not want to leave. The same thing these pets did.

Monkey, like the other pets, now prefer living in the colonies. Occasionally, we will bring them in for dinner and a movie. The birds make it clear that they would rather be out in the flock, their new family. We have observed this over and over again,…. given the choice, the birds prefer their own species to humans. Human arrogance makes some people believe that, birds would prefer living with us.

*Because Umbrellas and Moluccans share many personality traits, we expected, their colonies would have similar moods. Not the case, not even close. The Umbrella’s turned out to be little wild things compared to the other colonies. The Goffin’s are the closest in personality, to the Umbrella flock.

Wild Caught Ratio: 30% Wild Caught and 70% Domestic

Elbow Room: Umbrellas here, need a lot of personal space between each other. About 3 feet during the day. They do however, snuggle with each other at night. The sleep in a tight group, on the highest perches, under the roof.

Noise Level: This is the nosiest colony of ALL !! They can scream for hours. Sometimes, they start a “meet it or beat it” screaming game. The volume of the Moluccan is higher. But, the Umbrellas are tenacious and they can go on and on and on….for hours. A Moluccan would have given up. Those of you who have Cockatoos know, they scream for different reasons. Sometimes it is just for fun or to get your attention, when you leave the room. Sometimes it is boredom or, their tired, a toy fell, there is a fly in the room, a butterfly went by…..on and on. Well, the best way we can describe the Umbrella colony screams are; I am in the sun and happy to be alive and I think I hear my own echo in the woods. Our Umbrellas love visitors. The scream that they save for visitors is a, …..what do you think of this? Or take that!...scream. Usually, visitors get this scream if they linger in front of the Umbrella colony too long. My mother wears earplugs when she comes over. If you are thinking about building an Umbrella colony, make sure you live in the country, check your noise zoning or, have deaf neighbors. No Kidding!

Aggression Issues: We have had a number of aggression challenges with this colony. In the spring, we need to remove the logs that are on the ground in this colony. Several of the males, will start digging a nest under the logs and then defend it. Understandably, it is the start of breeding season. Although, we do not have this problem with any of the other Cockatoo colonies.

Additionally, on occasion an Umbrella male will, get in a cranky mood and start picking fights. Usually, it is nothing serious and it is resolved quickly, without interference from us. If the bird is being tenacious and it looks like someone is going to get hurt, we will pull the aggressor out of the colony for a “time out”. After a few hours, we put the bird back into the colony and the problem is usually solved. Once in a while, if the aggressive bird is persistent and the time out's are not working, we will clip his wings. That takes care of it. The “time out” cage is a mini flight, dog run style enclosure. We have a number of them scattered around the sanctuary. They are also used for quarantine, emergencies or, if someone needs to be medicated.

Introduction into the Colony: Females are readily accepted. Males occasionally have problems. The Umbrellas will accept some males just fine...and then, for an unperceivable reason, pick one that they do not like. We cannot find a pattern yet. This is NOT one of the Cockatoo colonies where we can just put a bird in and walk away! We need to wait and schedule the Umbrella introductions for a time when we will be working on a project nearby.