Katy McElroy saw her first wild cockatoo while living in Australia during the 1970’s.  She brought a pair of Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoos home to Northern Ohio and was soon successful breeding them in a large outdoor flight with an unheated shelter.

As cockatoos were added to the flock at Hornbeam Aviary, it became obvious that some sort of indoor facility was necessary to eliminate the problem of frozen soft food and water (not to mention people fingers and bird toes!)  But because the relatively primitive outdoor setup had proven so successful, Katy was reluctant to resort to a typical northern indoor aviary with suspended flight cages. Several years ago she and her husband, Jim, drew up plans for an experimental 7-flight aviary with minimally heated indoor flights connected to very large, planted outdoor flights. The design worked so well that the building was recently expanded to 21 flights.

By utilizing surveillance cameras in nest boxes and flights, Katy and Jim have developed a hands-off method of managing their breeding birds which eliminates stress and encourages pairs to incubate and rear their offspring.  Several years ago they allowed a pair of Moluccans to raise, fledge and wean one of their chicks, an enlightening experience that took nearly a year and was recorded on tape.  Since then, several other species of cockatoos have been parent-fledged and weaned.  These youngsters will eventually become part of the breeding flock at Hornbeam Aviary and have already lead to a better understanding of parent/chick relationships.  This information may one day help breeders produce more emotionally stable pet cockatoos.

Like other modern aviculturists, Katy is concerned about the future of these wonderful birds.  It is becoming increasingly clear that some species of people-imprinted, hand-raised cockatoos, particularly the Moluccan, make difficult pets and rarely prove suitable for breeding.

Katy is author of the Barron’s book, Eclectus Parrots.