My name is Snowball an-d I am a Medium Sulphur-Crested Eleanora Cockatoo. I LOVE to dance! Some of us are talented enough to whistle a tune, talk, swing upside down an-d around dance. Some of us are smart enough to coun-t an-d even train our owners to do what we want them to do. An-d they think they are training us. Shhh. Let us keep it secret, guys!
I came to Bird Lovers Only Rescue in August of 2007 when my previous owner decided it was best for me to go to a home where I could get more attention. Plus, I am in my teenage years an-d I have gotten to be a ha-ndful. I admit it. Hey, what teen is not? The only difference between me an-d a human teenager is that I Never get the keys to the car! But I guess it is a fine trade-off for getting scritches under my wings an-d kissed on my crest. Ahhh...thanks mom.
I love my new mom. The first time she saw me dance, she nearly fell out of her chair. "We have got to tape him dancing!" I heard her tell dad. "An-d we should put him on our web site. This is too funny to keep to ourselves. Look at how he gets into this music!" Mom continued as she was wiping away the tears of laughter. I still do not get why my dancing is so funny to her. I think I m pretty darned good. Like she can do better?
Well, none of us knew that my dancing video would brighten so many days across the globe! Before you knew it, I was an internet sensation...phenomenon! Who would have thought? Emails started pouring in from all over the counr-y, then Canada, then Europe, then Australia, then Africa, then Asia, an-d finally South America. I guess the polar bears in Antarctica do not have internet access.
Then the media caught on. I became the Spokesbird for parrots around the world. Not many had heard of bird rescues. They did not know this was a place for us to go when we can not stay with our owners anymore. I have made a lot of friends here. There is this cute female sulphur-crested Eleanora cockatoo named Ellie. She is hot. She does not seem to be too interested in me though. I guess she has not seen my video.
There are some other guys that I hang out with though when I am not with mom. One of them is Cory, a moluccan cockatoo. Mom says he suffers from separation anxiety. Whenever she leaves the room, he starts screaming. Hes louder than I am! I stay away from the macaws, though. They like to lunge. But I am quicker. Swing a-nd a miss!
Yep. There sure are a lot of birds up for adoption over here. Mom is patient with us though. She knows she has to earn the trust of some of the ones that have been abused or neglected. When they bite her she does not take it personally. Some of them bite her because they are afraid. They do not realize that she is nice an-d is not going to hurt them like the person that had them before. But there is no way for them to know that. Sometimes she sits down in a chair next to them a-nd she reads. It is not like she reads anything good like the funnies, but it is the tone of her voice. It is calming.
I like it here. Mom thought she was being selfish by wanting to keep me here. She had mixed feelings about whether to offer me sanctuary here or adopt me out. I had to act quickly. I knew she was inviting some people over to see what a cute a-nd sweet bird I was. I bit three people that night. Mom picked me up an-d I was fine. I did not know how else to tell her that I wanted to stay. Mom understood me. She let me be me...an-d loved me for it.
Signed,snowball.