This is a story about someone who couldn't love himself and someone who no one else could love. This sounds like a human problem but I'm talking about birds, two of my male cockatoos.

Bo has a problem in where he is constantly causing injury to himself. Full of love for people but seems to not have any for himself. Bart is my Umbrella Cockatoo a danger to most people and I thought all birds. He almost killed one bird and has attempted to attack all others. He has been known to attack people on a regular basis. Bart wants love and calls for my other birds when they are not in the same room w/ him, but he is just a highly abusive bird so can form no relationships w/ anyone other than myself and all the other birds avoid him. This avoidance seems to egg his anger on.

We have a spare bed in a room which also doubles as our home office. I put the birds on this bed to play. I dump toys on there and supervise their running about. I try to teach Bart socializing and hope to get 2 of my M2s to learn to trust him ... just a bit in hopes it will offset Bart's anger towards the world just a little. My birds are flighted so escape is easy and I am sitting RIGHT there.

I have never added Bo to this mix for he is not flighted plus he has nowhere near the strength of my other birds .... not yet anyway. I have casually introduced Bart to Bo but only when holding Bart and not close enough for touching ... until the other day. I had the 3 birds (2 Mollies and 1 Umbie) on the bed working w/ interaction. This time I brought Bo into the room but had him sitting on my lap. Bart kept showing an extreme interest in coming over onto my lap. I finally gave in, thinking I can use my body to shield Bo if something happens.

To my utter amazement Bart, the U2 so hell-bent on always hurting someone but at the same time always craving a form of interaction ... just not understanding gentleness ... crouched down and placed himself under Bo's breast area. Moving ever so slowly he cocked his head upwards and offered to preen Bo. When he saw he was not going to be rejected by Bo he preened a little more and a little higher. He started whispering to Bo,"Does that feel good?" a question I ask all my birds as I preen them.

They moved on to both of them ever so slightly tilting their heads and slightly opening their beaks. This caused my heart to start beating faster than it already was, my adrenaline was pumping ready to protect Bo. Instead of an attack ... they slowly and tentatively started touching tongue to tongue. Just tiny little touches, almost as if they were tasting the other's intent and thoughts. After this Bo preened Bart and than back and forth. Bart at all times acting submissive; something I have never before witnessed in Bart.

I had my camera sitting on my desk so I slowly reached for it. I managed to snap a few photos of Bart preening Bo and a video of Bo preening Bart. I apologize for the poor focus of the pictures but having them both sitting on the back of the chair that I was straddling (I needed to stay close to run interference) I was not able to get far enough away for a proper focus, the video is a bit better not having the flash bouncing off their feathers and in that they are sitting on my lap giving a bit more distance.

I am full of hope that these 2 birds will help each other. My one misfit who is hell-bent on self-destruction and my other misfit who has always been hell-bent on destroying all others. While Bo will hang out w/ my other 2 Moluccans, he attempts to keep a distance from them. Bart who has never been passive to another bird for as long as I've known him .... bowed down to a bird w/ physical handicaps and much weaker. Bart a bird who has not just been known to attack other people and birds but has attempted to kill. My vet agrees that there are mental issues. I have had people who meet Bart confirm that something is "just not right about that bird". We seem to think that something happened to Bart during his development for one side of his body is askew, that may of also effected him mentally. His physical problems have improved over time w/ exercise, stretching and massage but not his emotional.

Something clicked in these two though, something I hope that will blossom. My 2 birds w/ the most mental baggage ... sought each other out and found something in each other that they did not find in any other birds. One found a part of himself, a gentleness and a source of acceptance. The other found an inner strength and love enough for himself, to not withdraw from the other bird that was trying to show him kindness. It brought tears to my eyes ... and a happiness my heart has not felt for a very long time. Those that have been following Bo's story may understand a bit ... but those that know of Bart will understand completely.

Bart has me shy of his behaviors towards other birds so I doubt that their will ever be unsupervised contact between the two but at least they have both seemed to find a part of themselves that was lost. Maybe, maybe w/ time they can both heal each other's spirits and heart. I can only hope :-)