Because of the incident she was nicknamed Nervous Nelly and it stuck. No I did not have her sexed. The vet I took her to said by her size and eye color it was a 95% chance she was a "he". But I decided it didn't matter. The nervous part of her name has long disappeared but she will always be my Nelly.

Casa your story is just as heartwarming as Diane's is. And the fact that you two are still with your chosen ones, is even better. So many folks take if for a few years, and then get tired, or life changes, or whatever, and the first thing to go is the bird. Those two are two lucky feathers.

Sweet little Liza Loo couldn't have found a better home.

My first and only cockatoo is my gal pal, Isabella (Izzy, for short).

I brought Izzy home on Valentine's Day in 2004 -- she was approx 4 months old, having hatched the prior October. Hard to believe she will be 4 years old this Fall.

I had been researching cockatoos at the time and was considering a sweet little goffins at a local family-owned petshop. For some reason, it just didn't feel quite right -- can't really put my finger on why not as the goffins was such a cutie. But I just down deep did not feel the bird was meant to be with me. I went to Petco later that week and saw Izzy sitting in her cage. She had lots of toys and fresh food in her bowl. I could tell she was the darling of the store and employees there were clearly smitten with her. I held and played with Izzy for about 2 hours that night. I dealt with a manager who was not inclined to sell Izzy to just anyone and she grilled me about my experience handling parrots and knowledge of cockatoos. Satisfied with my answers, I went home that night with my bundle of white feathers and life has never been the same!

Izzy is by far my most mechanical of birds -- she loves to undo locks, unscrew bolts, weave leather strips through the bars of her cage and tie complex knots. She is not a bird who will be happy sitting on a perch observing her surroundings -- she MUST be doing something. I have always tried to give Izzy something new to do in her cage every day -- whether that is pulling miscellaneous materials out of her foraging box, chewing up a phone book suspended from the ceiling of her cage, or shredding a large, clean pine cone. I have always been careful to not spoil Izzy by cuddling her non-stop and worked right from the start to make sure she would play independently of me. As a result, she seems to be a very happy and content little bird.

Izzy has never bitten or even nipped me and she is the one bird in my flock who will go to absolutely anyone. Izzy is so trusting and it is clear she thinks everyone loves her -- and they do!!

Izzy is my most choosey eater and I probably am most frustrated when it comes to this. She is a food thrower and bowl tosser. She has taught me that I am to give her apples cut just a certain way (in long wedges, no square chunks, please) or else she will fling them with her beak. She does not like bananas or sweet potatoes like my other birds do. She goes for crunchiness and texture. She loves sugar snap peas and corn on the cob. And she will move heaven and earth for a pine nut in the shell.

Izzy's best friend is my amazon, Stella. It is an odd pairing, I know, but they really are buddies. When Izzy is out of her cage, she will usually try to get to Stella's cage. I have seen Stella preen Izzy many, many times when I put them on a playstand together or give them a few hours together in Izzy's cage. But this past week, for the first time ever I saw Izzy preen Stella!! And that spicey amazon bowed her head in appreciation as Izzy gently preened each feather on the back of Stella's neck.

Isn't it amazing how these birds come to us. I got Gabby from a bird broker. He had just come in, and hadn't even gone to her house yet when I met him - at the same flea market where I got Ollie. I brought him home because he was just a shaking, shivering wreck. He sat on my lap from that afternoon when I got home, until the wee hourse of the morning. He just pressed himself up against me...there was no returning him, and while I don't advocte purchasing birds these days because I know of so many birds that need homes, I did buy him. He only says "happybirds" and "I love you" but that is good enough for me. If I ask him if I love him, he bounces up and down with his crest high. If I ask him if he loves me, he stops bouncing, and the crest goes down, and he just looks at me...geesh, the thanks we get!

I love the part about Izzy and Stella. Isn't it interesting how they pick their buds. Our zon, Sam, was best friends with Sunny, the Sun Conure we lost. Every second out of the cage was spent together. Sunny was a very shy and nervous bird (from the same dammed bird broker - but this time a gift - but only cause he didn't want to be a breeder) and looked to Sam for protection and safety.

Kelly, Izzy is so beautiful and such a classy lady. Where in the mix did you purchase Izzy?

Pine nuts in their shell? I've never seen them in there shell. Where do you get them?

Lara, Izzy is my second parrot. Was just she and Stella for a while -- boy does THAT seem like a long time ago! LOL

Pine nuts in the shell are included in Higgins' Sunburst mix and even bigger ones are in their Fruits to Nuts mix. Izzy will pick through both looking for pine nuts in the shell and also for pistachios in the shell. Her two faves....