Izzy (U2) The Weaver

[Stizby]

I have a 3 year old Umbrella Cockatoo named Izzy. She is my most mechanically-inclined bird (will happily undo nuts & bolts) but her talents have now moved into the arena of weaving. No kidding!

I have a foraging box hanging in her cage (large plastic box with slots on the side for her to pull stuff from inside out). I have put leather strips into the box and she has been pulling it out for weeks now. But lately, she has started with weaving what she pulls out between the bars of her cage. Here is a photo of her most recent work.



I'm wondering if anyone has any birds that do this as well, or whether this is something that is unique to cockatoos?

By the way, Izzy has also weaved twine through her bars and actually managed to knot one into place. She left it there like that for about a day or so and then undid it and banished it to the bottom of her cage.

[leighrivera161]

Perhaps she is having an identity crisis and thinks she's really a Quaker!

At least she's creative!!

[LauraKGN]

How cute! Have you seen her while she's doing it? I love it when they're really concentrating on something.

[FeathersNFur8]

That's really neat! I need Izzy here to work in tandem with Kita. She's good at untying the toys...

[homebird]

I think she needs more colourful strips! Maybe cut fabric?? See what she can do with colour or other textures.

Laker was really funny with paper. he'd tear it into long strips & then curl the pieces into twine & then the twine into ringlets. He's work on it for long periods of time - eventually he tried to kill it - maybe a too critical response to the finished product.

[TooLover]

My Buck Buck loves to do the same thing; he knots and unknots all day long. I haven't noticed Elwood doing it, just the cockatoos.

[bird_luver24]

How Neat! What a smart birdies you guys have!!