Northmead cafe welcomes daily visit from local cockatoo gang

BRUCE the cockatoo has made a name for himself at Northmead’s Cafe On Ventura. He has become the leader of a cockatoo gang that enters the cafe each morning.

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FOR years Bruce the cockatoo has visited Northmead’s Cafe On Ventura for a quick bite to eat.

The wild bird dines on fruit and nut bread, a delicacy he demands upon arrival.

If ignored, Bruce wanders inside the cafe and nudges closer to the counter. Occasionally, staff do not notice their feathered friend until he is at the register eyeballing them.

The noisy creatures are welcomed by locals to the cafe, often found on the backs of chairs or at the side of the cafe on a brick wall waiting for their meal.

Bruce will regularly enter the cafe and stare down the staff until he receives a piece of banana bread.

Trent Kiner calls Bruce the “pack leader”. Picture: David Swift

The cafe has been open for about seven years and, as far as new owner Trent Kiner is aware, Bruce and his crackle have visited for a feed most days. Some days there are up to 20 of them.

Bruce doesn’t have any distinguishing physical features that set him apart from the rest but Mr Kiner said he was the only cockatoo game enough to enter the cafe.

“All the rest are a bit skittish and scared of humans. Not Bruce,” he said. “If there’s such a thing as a pack leader, he’s it.”

The stare-down is real and menacing, with Bruce the only cocky game enough to enter the cafe. Picture: Instagram

The other cockatoos wait for Bruce outside. Picture AAP Image/David Swift

Instagram is a trove of cockatoo photos from Cafe on Ventura.

Mr Kiner said they were cautious about how much they fed the wild birds because the fruit and nut bread was not quite the food they were used to.

Having owned the cafe for two months, he said there was no way he could cut off Bruce and his mates “cold turkey”.

Sulphur-crested cockatoos live for about 40 years in the wild.

To add to Bruce’s adventures, the cheeky cockatoo followed one of the human regulars home from the cafe and made a meal out of her fruit trees.

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