The ornery bird had a lot to say when his owners tried to wrangle him into a harness

Sometimes, you like mom better than dad — at least Eric the bird does. Eric is a Cockatoo, a parrot sub-species that’s known for being pretty loud. Eric himself may be above average on the loudness scale, especially if he doesn’t like what’s going on.

Eric (full name: Eric the Legend) loves to go for walks in his harness, but he prefers to walk with his mother. Dad just doesn’t know how to handle it as well as she does.  She knows exactly how to put the harness on, and by that we mean she knows how Eric wants her to put the harness on. And really, maybe he just didn’t feel like a walk at the time. As soon as he saw his harness in Lester’s hands he freaked out and threw a major birdy fit.

Lester makes another attempt after Eric throws the harness on the ground. That causes Eric to bite him on the hand, and curses begin to fly. Lester’s apparently heard this all before and tries not to laugh.   It’s similar to when kids say the darndest things – it’s funny but it’s probably better not to encourage them. And a side note to Eric: is that the hand that feeds you?

This is not Eric’s first trip around the Internet. He’s one of the most popular parrots in Australia and cyberspace. You can see him do lots of other crazy stuff if you know where to look. You can also find lots of tips for putting harnesses on birds if that’s something you enjoy.