Cookie the cockatoo turns 75

Cookie the cockatoo, Brookfield Zoo's oldest resident, gets ready to celebrate his 75th birthdayAh - it's good to be the birthday bird.

Brookfield Zoo's oldest resident - Cookie, a Major Mitchell's cockatoo - will celebrate his 75th birthday Saturday with more than a little fanfare.

Members of his own "Cookie Fan Club" will wear customized Cookie T-shirts. Zoo guests will serenade him with a round of "Happy Birthday." And Cookie will get a muffin-sized birthday cake, fit for a cockatoo.

The cake will contain many of Cookie's favorite treats such as apples, carrots, raisins and bananas. And perhaps best of all - a single green bean for a candle.

"Cookie loves green beans," said Kris McCoy, who has served as one of his keepers for the last five years.

Cookie arrived at Brookfield in 1934 when the zoo first opened, and is now the last remaining member of the zoo's original animal collection. Throughout the decades, the pink cockatoo with the bright eyes has developed quite a following, McCoy said.

"We have regular visitors who ask to see Cookie. And people bring him toys and food. We have a whole pile in our office," she said.

Cookie also receives fan mail on a regular basis.

"He has groupies," chuckled Anne Oiler, associate curator of birds at Brookfield Zoo.

Cookie seems to have taken notice of all the attention, McCoy said. He gets quite animated with his keepers and visitors.

"He likes it when people talk with him. He has crest feathers that he puts up, and he gets his head bobbing - his signal for being excited."

A green bean will serve as a cake candle for Cookie the cockatoo's 75th birthday party at Brookfield Zoo.As a senior citizen, Cookie has faced a few health ailments. Diagnosed in 2007 with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, Cookie is on a calcium-rich diet and takes anti-inflammatory medication and vitamin supplements.

Oiler said a special UV light has been installed in Cookie's cage to help supplement his bones with vitamin D.

"His mobility has really improved," Oiler said.

McCoy said Cookie will be ready and waiting when the party festivities begin at 10:30 a.m. outside of the zoo's Perching Bird House. Crowds have gotten so large at Cookie's annual parties that the events have been moved outside, she said.

But the crowd at the party will never compare to the number of faces who have passed by Cookie's cage since 1934.

"He has seen millions of people," Oiler said.