awww. he still looks cheerful though

Uh "some kind of disease" as in a self-destructive obsessive feather plucking behavior caused by stress/anxiety brought on by some form of abuse or neglect. Clearly, in his case, it was left untreated. This doesn't happen in the wild, only to neglected and abused parrots in captivity that aren't being properly cared for. From the looks of the background, he looks to be in a vet's office or shelter, so he must have been rescued by now. Once they acquire the behavior, however, it is hard for them to learn to stop plucking, and they usually continue to manifest anxiety in this way for their entire life.

He looks "cheerful" because their beaks naturally seem to smile. But really, there's no way to tell what he's feeling without long-term observation of his behavior.

This is a case of an animal who has been severely tramatized in some way, and it shouldn't be glamorized like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F
eather-plucking

Actually, lily, Oscar does have beak and feather disease. Birds pluck for more reasons than mistreatment. You will not find birds in the wild that do for a simple reason. Should a wild bird start plucking, and damage flight feathers, a predator will make a meal out of them very quickly. Birds are prey, sick prey does not last long.

I don't understand, why put people birds in cages...

i have a parrot too... but it's not bald

lily,
Right you are! Wish more peple knew how mentally bright these birds really are!

lily,
If it were true that this was stress induced, it would not be so thorough over the head. Yes, stress plucking does occur, but you cannot say that all balding is due to this. There are legitimate disorders that can cause such issues, and it was probably deposited at a vet's because it required special care, or the owner did not want a balding bird.

hey! get back on my plate!

poor guy.

poor oscar

Jard,

feathers please?