Baby Umbrella Cockatoo

Umbrella cockatoos are gentle, docile, and sweet-tempered by nature, making them well-suited to be companion birds. In the wild, umbrella cockatoos mate for life. They form a very close bond with their mate, possibly more than other species of cockatoos. They will join small flocks of umbrella cockatoos and are rarely apart from their mate. If a mated pair is separated, it is not uncommon for each of the birds to become genuinely depressed.

Rarely aggressive, they will quickly form strong bonds with their caretakers. These affectionate birds love to cuddle with their person, bird, or even object of choice. Equally loving and devoted owners are a good match for these parrots. This species begs to be spoiled, so plan on at least one to two hours of training, attention, and enrichment per day.

Umbrellas are very social and intelligent. They are capable of learning and performing a wide variety of tricks. Easily trainable, they are often featured as the star of bird shows. Short, daily training sessions yield the best results. To prevent your bird from becoming bored, have an arsenal of safe bird toys at your disposal. This species is not known for its mimicry of human speech, but it does screech loudly to vocalize its displeasure or excitement.

While the occasional cockatoo can imitate human speech, in general, these birds are not good talkers or imitators of sound. They have a loud, grating screech or scream and may hiss when alarmed. In the wild, their loud vocalizations were used for communication and could carry over long distances.

In captivity, they often use loud squawks to call for attention. For this reason, umbrella cockatoos may not be the best choice for those who live in apartments or condos or anyone with close neighbors.