Chantilly joined our family on Monday, Jan. 27th, 2014. My new neighbors had purchased her not long ago, only to discover that she took a lot more care than they had time for, which is why she moved in with us. She is about 6 years old, but we are not certain of that yet. It's the approx age my neighbors think she is.

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Chantilly was raised with dogs, and knew no fear of them. So she wasn't concerned about my neighbors five noisy and active Shih Tzu's until one bit her in the chest, taking most of her chest feathers with it. This upset our poor little bird so much that she promptly plucked or broke what was left of her body feathers. Other than her facial and crest feathers, Chantilly is barely covered in downy underfeathers now.

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Chantilly's voice is a lot like "Cousin It's", very sweet, girlish and softly high pitched. So far, she has only said "happy" and "baby", but should be saying much more. Maybe in time.

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There are over 40 types of Cockatoos, 12 of which are white. Chantilly is either an exceptionally small Umbrella Cockatoo (My neighbors swear her original owners sold her as an Umbrella), or a Blue Eyed Cockatoo. Both descriptions of the bird types fit her appearance, though she is very small for an Umbrella, and the skin around her eyes are not very "bright" blue for a Blue Eyed. She does have yellow on the under parts of her crest feathers which could be indicative of a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. It's hard to say for sure just yet as most of the feathers that would identify her breed are chewed off. It's just that she is so small for an Umbrella that we question what type she is.

Side note: Barretta's famous bird was an Umbrella Cockatoo.

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Cockatoos possess crests and cheek feathers that may be raised or lowered at will. These are used to communicate with fellow members of their "flock", or as a form of defense to frighten away other species that approach too closely, making the bird appear larger when the crest is suddenly and unexpectedly raised. Here, Chantilly was trying to get my attention, and once she saw I thought it was attractive, kept it up to please me lol. Very cute!

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You can see the yellow in her crest here. Sulphur Crested?

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Icarus wasn't too sure about Chantilly.

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Chantilly is at least double Icarus's size, so it took him a bit before he decided she wasn't a predator.

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Chantilly has to be the cuddliest bird I've ever had the pleasure to know. She snuggles up under my chin and coo's in the sweetest female purr - just melts my heart!

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Icarus and Davinci' kept close watch on Chantilly for quite a while before letting down their guard.

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Once the boys decided she was ok, it was boyd play time.

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Davi' was having a good time too!

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...or look bigger than he really is lol

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Preening is different than breaking and plucking.

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She is pretty cold, and itchy, which will hopefully, bring in more new feathers soon.

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From this angle, you can see that her crest feathers are fairly new, and still coated with a feather sheath (also known as a quill or calamus).

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They can play together, but need to be separated when in their cages, or Ick will over preen Davi', as seen in Davi's tail (refer to prior images in this album). Like most teens, young birds are often prone to over/under preening until they figure out otherwise.

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Seems I am forever vacuuming to keep the downy feathers at bay lol...sweeping only sends the fine down flying!

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....hopefully she will feather back out quickly.

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