I'm On Tik Tok

Hi friends!  I just joined Tik Tok and have an account with some fun videos of myself there if you would like to check it out.  My Tik Tok name is christhecockatoo, which is also my name for my Facebook page and my Instagram account if you would like to follow me anywhere. 

In the meantime Happy Passover & Happy Easter to all!!

In The Top Ten

It's so exciting, not only did I have my first celebrity/celebirdy interview in March, it made the top ten columns in WhomYouKnow.com for the month.

Top Ten in WhomYouKnow

Of course, I'm not surprised, because of how curious humans are about cockatoos in general and me specifically.  I will continue to do my part to entertain mankind! 

Many thanks to #WhomYouKnow and #PeachyDeegan

Me, a Birdstar on the rise!

More Modeling For Walmart

I did my second modeling job for Walmart in December.  It was a lot of fun.  The director was the same as the year before and I really like him.  He let me sit on his shoulder and watch the production. 

Me sitting on my director buddy Charles

Walmart put the photos on their Instagram page in the Pet Stories.  Here's the link below.  Make sure you watch all the way to the end to see all of my photos.

Walmart Pet Stories

My co-star was a kitty named Salvador Dali.  He was very chill and very professional.

Salvador Dali

When I arrive on a set I like to observe what's going on and get the lay of the land.

Me watching everything

I got to keep the bow ties I modeled.  I really like them!

Playing with one of my cool bow ties

My First Celebrity Interview

I'm so excited!  I had my first celebrity -- or in my case, celebirdy-- interview!  Many thanks to #peachydeegan and #whomyouknow for featuring me on the site.  You can read the interview by clicking the link below:

WhomYouKnow.com interview

Modeling The Latest Trend For Black Tie Magazine

My human mom writes a column about trends for Black Tie International Magazine and I'm one of the models this month.  Take a look:

Now Trending With Alison Minton: NEON

Me modeling a neon yellow flight suit 

from Avian Fashions

My Saturday Night Live Appearance With Daniel Craig!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of starring in an SNL sketch with Daniel Craig, Kate McKinnon, Chloe Fineman, Cecily Strong and Kenan Thompson, called The Sands of Modesto.  I played a cockatoo named Charles and I sat on Daniel Craig's arm.  Here is the clip:

The Sands of Modesto

I love being on the set, and getting to work with a major movie star like Daniel Craig was such a thrill!  He was a bird whisperer.  Mom showed him how to hold me and he did a great job.  He talked to me and he pet me and held me so I would feel secure.  As you can see from watching the clip we made a great team and I know exactly when to look right at the camera. 

This was my second time on SNL.  It's so much fun on the set.  Everyone was very nice to me.  When I left the stage after the live show and we walked out into the hallway everyone started cheering for me and clapping because I nailed the scene!   I hope I get to go back again soon!

Here are some fun photos from the scene and behind the scenes:

The super cool photo SNL posted on Instagram.

My new buddy Daniel Craig and I looking right at the camera. 

We were perfectly in sync.

Don't we make a great team?

This is the second time I've worked with Kate McKinnon

Peeking out at the live audience from behind our set

There's a lot of down time in between rehearsals 

so I explored the studio

Cast member Chloe Fineman is so nice.  

After our sketch was over we took a photo together.

This is Joe, he builds the sets.  He made me the wood toy he's holding.  

He did the same thing for me when I was on the set in 2012.  He's a cool guy.

Getting a blow dry in hair & make up just for fun.

I Was On Million Dollar Listing New York AGAIN

I was on a second episode of Million Dollar Listing New York last night.  This time they showed me dancing with Fredrik Eklund.  You can watch the full episode On Demand.  It's season 8, episode 7.

Here's a video of me dancing on the show....

Me, Chris, dancing with Fredrik Eklund on MDLNY

I was on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

I never posted this at the time, but I was on an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel last year.  I was on the set for twelve hours and I met a lot of nice people.  My human mom got to be in the episode, too.  She's really lucky that because I'm an animal actor she gets to be on tv.  She even earned a SAG credit for it!  Anyway, back to me.....I filmed my part with an actor named Josh Cooke.  He was really nice.  I wore my tuxedo for my role as part of a bird act in a talent show.  When the episode aired they showed me in a scene where there are eight tv monitors in the control room and my image is on all of them.  You can watch for me in episode 9 or season 2, starting at the 41:28 mark.  They pan over the monitors quickly so watch carefully to see me!

This is me in my tux in the monitor

Here I am with mom & Josh Cooke in the black & white camera

Here we are in the talent show scene

Mom & me while mom gets her hair done up into a 1950's style

Us backstage waiting to shoot our scene

I'm On Million Dollar Listing New York

In March I taped an episode of Million Dollar Listing New York and it aired last Thursday.  It's episode 6 of season 8 and you can watch it On Demand right now.  I was in a scene with the star of the show, Fredrik Eklund.  He was really nice and I liked him a lot!  We even danced while my human mom sang, but unfortunately they didn't use that footage on the show.  That's okay though, because lots of people saw me on tv and now they recognize me!  Here are a few photos my friend took while the episode was on.

Me with Fredrik Eklund

My human mom with me & Fredrik

Fredrik & I talking to each other

My mom cleaning up after me, lol

I Walked the Catwalk for Walmart!

I modeled a bow tie for Walmart.  Here I am strutting my stuff at the end of the video.

https://www.facebook.com/walmart/videos/297216100937032/

Chris Is On Instagram!

Hi Everyone!  Just a note that you can now follow Chris on instagram.  Here's the link:

 https://www.instagram.com/christhecockatoo/

We'll be adding posts to Instagram more often than we do here so please follow Chris and keep up with his adventures!

Searching For Santa

Chris wants to meet Santa Claus and tell him what he wants for Christmas and his birthday.  Chris' hatchday/birthday is December 25th so he's got a long list.  So, last weekend we went in search of Santa.  We found his hideout, but sadly Santa was not there so we're going to try again this weekend. 

Chris is getting close to finding Santa

The Polish Parade

A few weeks ago Chris' friend/baby sitter, Diane, took him to the Pulaski Day parade in Poughkeepsie, New York.  They gave him a flag to wave around and he had a great time meeting a lot of nice people and posing for photos.

Chris & Diane at the parade!

Chris with Diane & a lady dressed in a traditional outfit

Chris making new friends

Waving the flag

A special thank you to John Konopski for the wonderful photos.

A Trip to the Farmer's Market

Chris took a trip to the local farmers' market today. He loves going and usually ends up getting some fresh fruits and veggies for himself. Today he got corn and string beans. He also likes holding onto the money and waving it around.  

As usual he attracted lots of attention. I think he's probably in more photos and videos then some A-list celebrities!  

On the way out we stopped at the chicken pen so he could see some fellow birds and take a selfie with them. Then we headed into town where he got vanilla ice cream (shhhh....).

Chris loves seeing the chickens!

What a handsome guy!

Photo Op At The Farmers' Market

In November Chris got to go to a local farmers' market while we were visiting Chris' grandma's house. The market is indoors in a local train station so with his sweater on Chris was warm enough.  We were there to buy some fresh veggies, but of course, a crowd formed around Chris and it just so happened that a lady who takes photos for the local paper was there.  She took a photo of us and it ended up in the paper.  Chris always manages to find the spotlight!

P.S.  That's actually not Chris' mom holding him.  Chris' mom (me) is on the right holding a bag of vegetables.

Little Things Live!

Chris appeared on a live streamed tv show yesterday, called Little Things Live, with host Jen Righi and actress Laura Gomez who plays Blanca on the hit show Orange Is The New Black.  He had an amazing time!  We both did. Everyone was so nice and it was a pleasure to be there.

Host Jen Righi, me (Chris' mom), actress Laura Gomez 

& Chris the Cockatoo and the producer's dog!

Chris was there to dance and play with Laura and I was there to answer questions about Chris and cockatoos.  Chris enjoyed sitting on Laura so much that he didn't want to dance at first, but then he got into it and nothing could stop him!  Click on the link to watch the video below:

https://www.facebook.com/littlethingscom/videos/578347462374630/

More Healthy Eats

As posted before, I do everything I can to keep Chris & Holly healthy, including making a fruit & veggie salad fit for a king every morning.  Here are a few more of their meals:

Grapes, sugar snap peas, horned melon (Kiwano), mango

Edamame, grapes, blueberries, carrots, cucumbers, omelette

Grapes, pomegranate, green apple, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, oranges

Cantaloupe, grapes, carrots, cherries, sugar snap peas, blueberries

I get most of their produce at the local grocery store, but the more exotic fruits usually come from Whole Foods.

Easter Treats

I hope everyone had a nice Easter.  Chris did!  He and his 'brother', Rozy/Holly each got an Easter basket filled with toys and they got some pasta as a treat.

Birdy Easter baskets

Rozy's basket

Chris' basket

So far they have played with a couple of toys.  The first thing Chris pulled out of his basket was the alphabet block barbell toy.  He used to play with them all the time, but he hasn't had one in a while so I think he was happy to see it.  He also played with the duck toy that quacks like a duck.  It's really a cat toy, but he loves them.  We'll play with the baskets again tomorrow.

Chris with his new barbell toy

Cockatoo Lunchtime

Chris is a somewhat picky eater, like all cockatoos.  His pionus brother, on the other hand, is a piggy, which is a pionus trait.  I try to keep them both happy and healthy with a variety of fruits and veggies. Here are some recent meals:

Grapes, edamame, carrots, blueberries, cucumber & omelette

Chris loves edamame, which is a nice alternative to the sugar snap peas he loves and gets almost daily. He also likes grapes (there were red ones buried in his bowl).  Chris favors green grapes while Holly/Rozy loves red ones.  They get an omelette a few days a week.  They both love it, but we have to be careful about cholesterol.

Grapes, sugar snap peas, pomegranate, green apple & mandarin orange

This photo is a little bright, but you can see the juicy pomegranate really well.  Holly/Rozy loves pomegranate!  Chris just started eating a little and judging from the red mess in his cage I think he likes it, too.  Chris likes to de-seed things so he like orange slices that have seeds in them.  Both boys really like apples and the sour green ones seem to be their favorite!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris put on his pilgrim hat to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Magazine Profile

Chris and I have been terrible bloggers and we apologize.  It's been almost a year since we updated this blog.  Chris has a Twitter account and a Facebook page that he updates regularly so we don't post on here much anymore, but we'll try to be better.

Chris was honored to be profiled for a column in Resident Magazine this month.  Written by Jane Pontarelli, the column tells how Chris got his start as a model and entertainer.  Chris is nothing if not a showbird!  Here's the column....Enjoy!

Column about Chris in November 2015 issue of Resident Magazine

Here's a link to the magazine....It's on page 86, although the counter says p. 89 for some reason.

http://issuu.com/resident_mag/docs/november_2015_issue?e=4002755%2F31042711

Merry Christmas!

Chris wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  So sorry we haven't kept up with posting, but I'll try to be better and keep everyone updated.  He has certainly had his share of adventures this year so I'll have to try to post some photos soon.  In the meantime, Chris will be celebrating Christmas and his hatchday (birthday) today!  He is 14 years old today.  Hard to believe it's been almost fourteen years since I brought my little chick home.

Have a great day!

Chris the Christmas Cockatoo

Dancing to the Copacabana

Chris loves to dance and he has several dance routines that he does spontaneously, usually out on the street in front of an audience.  He especially loves dancing for children.  If we're taking a walk and he's wearing his harness he will hold the end of the leash and dance around while holding it and wave at the kids.  Chris' favorite dance music is Barry Manilow's Copacabana.  He loves dancing around my mother's kitchen with her.  Here are some videos I shot over the 4th of July weekend while visiting her (Chris' Grandma Barbara). You can hear him trying to sing and his lyrics are all "Barbara!"

Country Fair & Fun!

Chris went to the local country fair today.  He went two years ago and loved it, so back we went for more hometown fun.  He met a lot of people and, as usual, everyone want to meet him, pet him, hold him and take his photo.  There were some very cute babies in red, white & blue outfits like this one below:

Chris face to face with a patriotic baby

 

 

He also hung out with the Katonah volunteer ambulance crew and did some dancing for them.

 

 

 

Chris always finds an audience

 

 

Finally, Chris and I hit the town to get some refreshments.  We went into the health food store and he got strawberry ice cream and then we walked to a local diner and sat outside where he had his ice cream and I had a cool drink.

 

Cooling off in the shade

 

 

He's now back on the porch chilling after a spritzing with the spray bottle.  He's sitting on the back of a chair watching the day go by and listening to the birds chirping.