This is the story of how a 4 month old male Rose Breasted Cockatoo (Galah) came into my life.

My interest in birds came in the recent years, when my husband and I decided to get a little Budgie to keep us company.  Smoothie, our wonderful 6 year old male Budgie, made us appreciate the feathered species and our Parakeet flock grew to four.

One day, a little over two years ago, the day before a business trip to Thailand, I was running last minute errands and one of my stops was the bird store for food supplies.  Then I saw him in the corner of the bird room, sharing a cage with another just like him, apparently his sister.  I should mention that I knew nothing about Cockatoos, only that I had always been fascinated by their beauty and charm.

As soon as I saw his beautiful pink face, I was mesmerized.  He had me under his spell with that very first eye contact we shared.  As I was approaching the cage, he was showing signs of interest; fluffing up, bobbing, making the "fat face" Rose Breasted Toos are known for (fanning their cheek feathers toward their beak) and he looked like a "pink lion," I thought!  Then he would proceed to put his beak through the cage bars and nibble on my fingers.  I couldn’t resist; I had to take him home with me that day.  It was as if I was the chosen one and he would do everything in his power to make me fall for him.  Needless to say, if it was indeed a scheme, it worked like a charm!

Even though, my mind was made up on taking him home, convincing my husband was another story.  He had been clear that our flock of four Budgies was enough.  After hours of negotiations over the phone, he finally realized that he couldn’t prevent this from happening, I was going to take the baby Cockatoo home regardless!  So ... that day, I left the pet store with a little more than what I was coming for!  I left with parakeet food, a cage, perches, toys, parrot food- oh! and a Rose Breasted Cockatoo!!!  I also left $2000 dollar poorer, but richer in so many other ways!

The next day, as planned, I left for Thailand and my husband, who had opposed getting another bird, was left caring for baby Milo for 10 days!  However, this couldn’t have turned out better!  In the 10 days I was away, the two bonded like old friends and I came back to find that he had also succumbed to Milo’s charm.

I’m proud to say that we’ve been one happy family ever since!  Milo loves his mommy and daddy equally and loves to give us kisses and announce them with a whispered "kiss-kiss-kiss-kiss."  He is the typical rambunctious, curious, smart, funny and sociable Rose Breasted Cockatoo.  Milo enjoys going outside in his harness and call the Crows: "Come here! Step up!".  Milo is not a picky eater and eats all the good healthy food I prepare for him.  He loves to shred toys and his favorites are foraging toys, especially when the prize is an almond.  In fact, I’ve often thought he’d fit the slogan "Will work for food"!  Milo is a very active Cockatoo and likes to hop or run on the floor and often goes on a mission to try to find shoelaces to play with.  He sleeps with us in our bedroom in a sleeping cage next to me.  He's happy with this fairly new set-up and lets us know when it’s time for bed!

I could go on and on because Milo has changed my life in so many ways and I feel truly blessed to have followed my impulse on that fateful day.