When Singapore went on lockdown last year, Little Wolfie Bird got busy training. Grinding on a skateboard. Dropping slam dunks on the court. Becoming a card sharp.
Those are just a few of the stunts this little blue parrot mastered, because of his firm belief that there’s an opportunity to be found in crisis. Today, Wolfie has at least 15 different new skills (mere “tricks,” to his owner) which he’s turned into a global TikTok following to ruffle anyone’s feathers – and an outsized ego to match.
“He’s the king of the house, he gets all the attention. He has a very feisty personality so he likes to have his way with other people competing for attention,” his owner told Coconuts in a recent interview. She asked to be identified only as CC in order to protect her privacy – and not steal the limelight Wolfie jealously guards. (He does let her appear in some of his content).
Little Wolfie Bird burst onto the scene with one audacious January stunt in which he went down a slide, through a tunnel, and gave his owner a high five. Take that, Tony Hawk.
The video raked in nearly 10 million views. Wolfie picked up a million followers. Not bad for his first year of life.
@littlewolfiebirdTony Squawk makin’ moves on @tonyhawk 😜 #skatebird #rollin #skateboarding #parrot #pets #fun #cool #petlife #fingerboard #bird #animalsdoingthings♬ Se Acabó la Cuarentena – Jowell & Randy & Kiko El Crazy
Thirty-something CC says she has received calls from American producers desperate to book Wolfie for an appearance.
“I’ve been getting more and more media attention and the funniest one was a message I got from a casting producer. They probably don’t realize that we cannot fly due to travel restrictions,” she said.
Wolfie was new to the world when he began training this past March, thanks to some tutorials CC found online. It didn’t take long for them to bond over his regimen and absurd talent. When Wolfie was still a hatchling, the self-taught animal coach bottle-fed him four times a day for several weeks.
Wolfie was her first pet in 15 years.
“I didn’t really think he would be so smart when I brought him home,” she said.
Wolfie had no comment and declined to participate in this story.
“I started teaching him right away, and he was just so eager to learn and very intelligent. If I want to teach him something new, it’s very easy because we know how to communicate with each other,” she added.
His bird box of tricks
Wolfie spends about 20 minutes a day training. His preferred regime involves polishing up on his legacy skills so he doesn’t forget them in his Tic Tak-sized brain. Always an edgelord, he expands his repertoire with a new ability every couple weeks. The year’s been a blur of flying through hoops, dunking rings into piggy banks, sorting colors like a boss, reading cards by picking numbers and letters, and so much pooping. But the skateboard will always be Wolfie’s first love.
Clips of him riding ramps show the mad techniques he’s cultivated, from his dipped-beak gravity assist lead-off to his incredible sense of balance. Can Tony Hawk do an aerial dismount and literally fly into the sky? No? Wolfie didn’t think so.
According to CC, Wolfie is 200% committed to his training. Sometimes he just rolls down the ramp without even being told.
“If the skateboard is on the ramp he will just fly to it and go down by himself or he will jump around on the skateboard and chirp, like, ‘Why is this not moving?’” she said.
“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission” is probably his motto.
But his devil-may-care attitude doesn’t extend to important matters. Wolfie is woke. His ramps are made with recycled materials like old cardboard boxes and paper (by CC).
Wolfie thinks globally and acts locally.
Thirty minutes was the quickest Wolfie’s ever taken to pick up a new talent. There have been more challenging feats, like slotting rings into piggy banks. That really pushed Wolfie to the edge. Give up? Not in his vocabulary.
“He knew what he had to do, but he found it so difficult to put the ring in there but he was so determined to do it and he basically taught himself to put the ring in the piggy bank because I can’t really show him,” she said about her friend.
After two frustrating days, his commitment paid off. Rings were slotted, and banks filled.
To CC, every bird is special and can be as talented as Wolfie.
“All birds are smart,” she said, hopefully when Wolfie was out of earshot. “It’s really up to us as the owners to communicate with them because they are capable of so many things and they are very complex and intelligent. We shouldn’t underestimate them. I don’t think there’s such thing as a stupid bird.”.
@littlewolfiebirdWorking hard to save up for old age #parrot #petlover #parrotstiktok #parrotsoftiktok #parrotstars #bird #birds #birdslove #piggybank♬ 1,2,3,4 (One, Two, Three, Four) – Fun Elektro Mix – Funbeat
Bird YouTuber and more birdie friends?
So stop what you’re doing and binge on all of Wolfie’s greatest hits, either on TikTok, Instagram or his YouTube channel, where he lets CC upload videos sharing some of her training techniques, like how to use clickers or teach pets to go to specific locations.
She said they take “very long” to make.
“I started YouTube tutorials because I want to help people learn to communicate with their pets,” she said. “Birds are not the easiest pets to take care of. I hope that the stories and the tips that I share will hopefully help everyone give the best life that birds can lead in their homes.”
CC has plans to expand her flock but worries Wolfie won’t take likely to other birds of a feather competing for her attention.
“I want to consider a few factors first. First with Wolfie, if he will be able to accept another bird friend. I’m not sure he would like that because now he’s the king of the house,” she said. “He’s a human bird who doesn’t really have birdie friends. He’s very attached to humans, I’m not sure if he even realizes if he’s a bird.”
@littlewolfiebird#play #parrot #foryou #happy #tiktok #kiss #pets #positivereinforcement #fun♬ The Dance Song – Sione Taholo
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