Audrey the Cockatoo was in a very sad state when she first met Misha Stova. Misha met Audrey’s mom who informed him that her husband had recently passed away.
Audrey was so distraught that she was pulling out her feathers. The only feathers left were on her head and lower body. The middle was completely bare.
According to All About Parrots, these parrots, which include the cockatoo, are able to experience a range of complex emotions like grief.
“If a bird has recently lost a close companion, you may be concerned that your parrot is grieving. Parrots form strong bonds with humans and other birds and can become visibly distressed when separated. Parrots go through a period of grief and sadness when they lose a close companion,” the website writes.
There must have been something about Misha that reminded Audrey of her dad because the second time she met Misha, she climbed right up into his arms.
Her owner saw how much Audrey liked Misha, so the owner asked Misha if he would take the bird.
“He called me, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re getting a cockatoo,” Kristin, Audrey’s new mom told The Dodo.
Audrey immediately bonded with Misha. She likes to work next to her new dad and gets a lot of love and affection from him.
It wasn’t long before she started to bond with Kristin too.
Now Audrey likes to run her beak through Kristin’s hair to make sure it’s combed properly. It’s called the Audrey Special.
“So, that was a turning point for our relationship,” Kristin said.
With Audrey in the house a few weeks now, they learned that she had a special skill.
Audrey could dance. She loved to sway back and forth to the beat with her daddy.
“She would mimic Misha’s movement if we put music on,” Kristin said. “We were like, ‘What is happening?’ That was really an amazing and overwhelming moment. I didn’t even know birds could move to music like that.”
And Audrey has all different kinds of moves in her repertoire.
She has an easy-going two-step and also likes to rock out hard to heavy metal and flap her wings as fast as she can.
“It’s like a whirlwind and this really incredible journey. She’s just filled every day with so much joy, and it’s so unexpected,” Kristin said.
Over time Audrey became the happy bird that she once was.
Her feathers are even growing back.
“She just flourishes and blooms like a flower every single day,” says Misha.
Kristin says that helping to heal Audrey has felt like a calling to her.
“It felt like I was always meant to do this,” she says. “I was meant to help this animal.”
And Misha agrees that Audrey has definitely changed both of their lives for the better.
Audrey has become TikTok famous, along with their wallaby, three dogs, three bunnies, and cat, on Kristin’s page which has more than 315,000 followers.
Learn more about this family’s story in the video below.
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