Reggie, the Eleonora cockatoo who waved goodbye and hung upside down for Cincinnati Zoo crowds for 45 years, has died after a health exam revealed an inoperable mass that prevented him from swallowing food. He entertained audiences in more than 6,000 shows over his career, making him the longest-tenured performer in the zoo's bird show history.
Zoo staff said goodbye to Reggie this month, according to WLWT. Reggie was discovered decades ago in a California pet store by a fellow bird trainer, who alerted zoo bird show coordinator Gary Denzler as he was recruiting animals ahead of the show's 1981 debut, per the Cincinnati Zoo. He went on to perform in the zoo's bird show for much of the 45 years that followed, returning in 2022 after a period off stage, and becoming, in his final years, the last remaining bird from the original cohort that launched the program in 1981, the zoo notes.
A Signature Hello and a Career That Outlasted Them All
Reggie was known for his signature hello, and his routine on stage included waving goodbye to crowds and hanging upside down. Eddie Annal, a Cincinnati Zoo caretaker, called him an inspiration because he showed how animals can be resilient. “There will never be a bird like Reggie,” Annal said, reflecting on the 45 years and 6,000 shows Reggie gave. Annal added that Reggie's absence leaves a gap in the show and a bigger hole in their hearts.
As he aged, Reggie developed a compulsive feather-chewing behavior that caused visible feather loss and led caretakers to temporarily pull him from public stage performances, according to the zoo's account. To keep him mentally stimulated while managing that behavior, caretakers placed Reggie part-time in the zoo's purchasing department in August 2020, where video of him grabbing paper from a copier and dropping it on the floor turned into an international viral moment, as reported by NDTV.
An Unexpected Flight Sparked a Late-Career Comeback
After rarely flying during his first 40 years at the zoo, Reggie unexpectedly took flight during a training session in theater seating. That surprise prompted trainers to introduce specialized flight training and medication that enabled what the zoo describes as his renaissance return to the stage in 2022 — a comeback so complete that former staff reportedly did not recognize his restored plumage when he returned. Following that return, Reggie took on a new role for the first time in his career, serving as an off-site outreach ambassador for community education programs beyond zoo grounds.
Reggie's health exam ultimately revealed the inoperable mass that prevented him from swallowing food, leading to the difficult decision to say goodbye. He was an Eleonora cockatoo, also known as the medium sulphur-crested cockatoo, a subspecies native to Indonesia's Aru Islands and the smallest of the four sulphur-crested cockatoo subspecies, according to background compiled on Wikipedia.
A Long Life by Cockatoo Standards
Wild sulphur-crested cockatoos typically live 20 to 40 years, but individuals in human captivity frequently reach 50 to 70 years, with some documented living nearly a century, per PetMD. Reggie's 45 years on stage fit within that broader pattern of extended captive longevity attributed to controlled diets and veterinary care.
Founded in 1873 and opened in 1875, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the second-oldest zoo in the country, now home to more than 500 animal species across 75 acres in Avondale, according to Wikipedia. Reggie anchored the zoo's Wings of Wonder show, which features more than a dozen bird species demonstrating natural flight, vocalizations, and interactive behaviors for visitors, the zoo says. For 45 years and across more than 6,000 performances, Reggie was one of its most familiar faces. According to a City of Cincinnati Interstate 75 Focus Area Study Health Impact Assessment, Avondale houses several notable institutions, including the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Children’s Hospital and the Cincinnati Health Department.
