Peg, the One-Footed Cockatoo

Wild, one-footed cocky that comes to visit several times a week, on a chair on the veranda. You can see the little stump of her left leg there. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

One-Legged Cockatoo

Here's a video of the one cockatoo we still feed. Her name is Peg:




And seconds after I stopped that video, Peg flew off with the dish. Cheeky bugger:





And this poor bugger looks like something out of a horrror movie:

We believe this bird to be suffering from Psittacine beak and feather disease. It is no fun:

Psittacine beak and feather disease is a viral disease affecting all Old World and New World Parrots (Psittacini, Hookbills). The virus belongs to the family Circoviridae. The virus attacks the feather follicles and the beak and claws-growing cells of the bird, causing progressive feather malformation and necrosis. In later stages of the disease, the feathers develop constrictions in feather shafts, cease development early until eventually all feather growth stops.

We saw something in the paper saying that you should actually try to capture these birds and take them to the local WIRES, as the disease is communicable. We'll look into that some more before actually throwing a blanket over one. Poor fella.

Lorikeets on the Veranda

Sitting at my desk just now, a pair of lorikeets that have judged us easy marks (and who Christine has named Sadie and June) landed on the hand rail of the veranda, just some eight feet from me. One positioned itself directly in front of the open door, cocked its head sideways, one eye focused on me, and screeched. Several times. Loudly. It was, of course, rewarded for this obnoxiousness.

Here's the "Naming of the Lorkeets" video:

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

On the roof of the building next door, from our veranda: