Meet Bandido and Korky: Calgary cockatoos delight onlookers at local park

Cockatoos aren't exactly native to Calgary—far from it—but don't be surprised if you see a couple of them flitting about.

It’s not every day you see cockatoos in a Calgary park, but Enrique Esteban has been walking his two birds through the city’s green spaces for decades – even letting them take flight.

Esteban, who has lived with his cockatoos for more than 30 years, says his goal isn’t to train them like pets, but to give them back some of the freedom they lost after years in cages.

“Many people, they take their pets to please their type of life,” he said. “But to me, being a pet owner, it doesn’t give me the right to modify another creature’s life. Whenever you have a pet, never humanize your pet — instead animalize yourself.”

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The pair — Bandido, who can only fly short distances and glide after a wing injury, which occurred before Esteban adopted her, and Korky, who can soar for hours — draw stares and plenty of questions when they take off from Esteban’s arms and return to perch on a rope he holds up like a mobile landing strip.

“That’s what many people say, ‘bird whisperer,’” Esteban laughed. “But to me, the most beautiful way of interacting with any animal is to deal with them as close as possible to what they would be doing in nature.”

Onlookers at Weaselhead Park in southwest Calgary on Tuesday were startled and delighted.

“Not what you see every day, is it?” said Mark Hont. “It never really dawned on me until I got up close, and then (I thought), ‘What the hell? Would you look at this.’”

Elizabeth Hruby and Terry Wapple say the sight of cockatoos among the pines stopped them in their tracks.

“We were just walking – saying we don’t see any birds here anymore – and then we look, and here we are there’s birds! But I said, ‘I don’t think they’re native birds,” Hruby said.

Esteban acknowledges there are risks.

He says he’s hawks, owls and even a merlin circle the birds, but he believes their instincts — and their trust in him — keep them safe.

“Nature designed these beautiful creatures to live 45 to 50 years,” he said. “That number alone should give us an immense amount of information … They must have the ability, the skills, the intelligence to fend for themselves.”

“You never go to the jungle and hear any bird say, ‘Hey Peter, bring me a cup of coffee,’” he said. “The sad thing is, once they mimic a word, everybody treats them like talking little machines. They forget they are birds.”

For Esteban, walking Bandido and Korky isn’t about control, it’s about connection.

“They bring you to their flock,” he said. “And when an animal feels understood, you’re building a strong link. You reassure them and they reassure you.”