Owl centre's new arrival is pretty in pink, and happy to steal the limelight

We thought we would introduce you to our new arrival, Louie the Galah, who is a bright pink species of cockatoo and who arrived at the owl centre at the end of last year, when he was in need of a new home.

Louie,the Galah cockatoo, who is already making a name for himself

Galahs are native to Australia and are found across much of the country – the word Galah is often used as Australian slang for someone acting like a clown.

You might notice from the photograph above that he is a tad plump. In fact, he has lost weight since being with us because when he arrived he was obese, and he walked everywhere because he could hardly fly. It is often the case that pet parrots are not fed diets which are the best for them. A diet containing lots of fatty sunflower seeds and peanuts results in lots of overweight pets.

A few months on, with a healthy diet and plenty of exercise, he has slimmed down – though still has some way to go.

He even flies a bit now, albeit rather clumsily.

Sophie is not so keen to share the limelight

Louie lives in our main parrot aviary alongside Sophie, the yellow-crested cockatoo, the conures and our budgie flock.

Louie doesn’t have much to do with the other birds, definitely preferring (like many of them) to “chat” to people.

The owl centre’s budgies live alongside the new arrival Louie

We had hoped he might become friends with Sophie, but it is not to be.

Sophie is extremely jealous of him and will not let him anywhere near her “favourite” people – which we think could be down to the fact that, just like her, he loves having his head scratched, and she is not prepared to share head scratches.

One of the conures keeping a low profile

We are sure he will become just as popular as Sophie when we reopen the centre, he certainly can’t wait to meet some new people.