Pebble the cockatoo was unhappy and letting the world know about it. Pacing up and down on the top of her cage, shaking her head angrily with her formidable crest raised, and gesturing with her wings, she let out a stream of words that were definitely English and not cockatoo. She sounded like Daisy Duck in an R-rated movie.
Her patient owner tried to calm her down, but Pebble was having none of it. Instead, she just seemed to get angrier.
“Oh, Pebble, come here,” her owner said in a conciliatory tone.
“Bleep, bleep, bleep,” Pebble said.
Then her owner tried shaming. “Some people don’t like to listen to that kind of talk,” he said.
“Bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep,” Pebble replied.
The owner gave affection a try, cooing, “Sweetheart…” Pebbles answered with something like “Sweetheart this!”
Would flattery work? The owner told Pebble, “You’re so beautiful, how can you talk like that?” But Pebble managed with several more bleeps. The owner said sadly, “You don’t care what I think.” By this time, Pebble was calming down or maybe just wearing out.
But the choleric cockatoo wasn’t done yet. She got a second wind and had at it again. After the bleepstorm, her owner remarked, “I sure hope you’re not like this tomorrow.” Apparently, the minister was coming over.
Finally, Pebble’s crest lay back, her pacing slowed, and her bleeps fell with less gusto. “We love you,” her owner assured her. It looked like love would win out, and reconciliation was just around the corner.
What made Pebble fly off the handle? The cockatoo shares her space with a lot of other birds. Maybe jealousy led her to exhibit her very fowl language.