Stalking the Blue Eyed Triton Cockatoo

The search for Mozart's Younger Brother!

Part 6: A Companion is found!

Updated: 07/12/2005

Widening the Search

In June we widened our search, by asking Susan at the Featherheads bird store in Sterling, VA to help us find a male Triton Cockatoo baby. A week later she had no good news. She had checked with her local breeders of Cockatoos and also in Florida and no one had a Triton baby. It seems the cool dark Spring here in the Eastern US was not conducive to successful breeding. Worse yet, many Florida breeders had their operations disrupted by the Hurricanes last Fall. But a week later she had some promising news, a male baby Triton was available. There were no details about age, or even where Susan had located it, or when it would be coming to the store. But just after the July 4th Independence Day holiday we received a telephone call from Susan; the Triton baby was coming to the store and she was on her way to the airport to pick it up!

Meeting our new baby for the first time!

We could not go out to see the baby right away, but a few days later on the following Saturday we hurried over to the store to meet our new companion. Here are some of the pictures of the little fellow -we fell in love with him immediately. He is not from Mozart's parents, but from an Aviary in Loxahatchee, Florida. He was flown up in a plane just before Hurricane Dennis blew through his home. Since this was our first meeting, we don't know what his name is yet -our birds always tell us (somehow) what their names are after we meet them.

 

In July 2005, this little fellow was still unsteady on his feet and not able to feed himself. While feeding him with a syringe Susan will be weaning him to a pelleted diet for us. He will stay at Featherheads until he is weaned to be able to feed himself.

Still a baby

This baby still has his "baby fuzz" feathers on his back. He was hatched on April 12th, in Florida. Are we excited! We have put a deposit down on the bird and will be visiting every weekend until he is ready to come home with us, whenever that may be. It was a quiet afternoon in the store, Susie and I sat with this marvelous little fellow until closing time. He seems quite a bit smaller than Mozart, and has a lot to learn yet before he can come home with us.

Pele the Eclectus

The news about Pele this month is that her leg has healed up nicely, though there is still a small scab. The Vets have decided that we do not need to bring her back for another checkup unless we see something obviously wrong. They still want us to keep her collar on for two weeks after the scab disappears. We take it off on weekends so she can take a shower and keep her under observation to make sure that she does not pick on the scab. But the collar goes back on at night.

She has begun another feather molt to replace some of her plumage.

 

But the story is not over, we may have found our companion, but Mozart's parents have another part to play.

Return to: CockatooWeb Start

Story Links

• Part 1: Stalking the blue eyed Triton
• Part 2: February/March a Sterile Egg
• Part 3: April no Easter Chick
• Part 4: Mid-April Cockatoos are Laying
• Part 5: May, Scrambled Eggs, Broken Dreams
• Part 6: A new companion is found!
• Select R2JWEB Images (follow link to Photo and Travel Galleries for more pictures).