By JUSTIN SCHUVER
Managing Editor

Customers at Sammy’s Bait and Tackle don’t even blink an eye when they hear an outburst of “Cracker!” or the humming of “Old McDonald Had A Farm.” They know it’s just “Billy,” showing off another example of his talents.

Billy is a white cockatoo, also known as an umbrella cockatoo, who is owned by Sammy and Yvonne Jenkins, the owners of Sammy’s Bait and Tackle, on Faceville Highway. But unlike some birds, Billy isn’t kept in a cage all day long. Instead, he’s got an uncovered play area in the back, with rattles and other toys, as well as some perches. Or, he sometimes comes up front and walks along the counter, right beside the cash register.

For the bravest of customers, he’ll even perch on their shoulders.

“He’s well behaved, and the kids love him,” Sammy said. “We have customers and kids who stop by after school, just to see Billy.”

The Jenkinses are both extreme bird lovers. They have four more at home — including a cockatiel who whistles the theme to The Andy Griffith Show — and yet they have no dogs, cats or other “conventional” pets.

“I think birds have a lot of personality,” Yvonne said. “He likes you to rub his head and you can get him to talk. Good luck trying to get a dog to talk.”

Although cockatoos might not be as loquacious as parrots or macaws, Billy still has quite an exhaustive vocabulary. Sammy said that if Billy hears the sound of a wrapper being open, he will squawk out “Cracker!” If someone starts humming a tune, he might think it’s “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and start singing along with “E, I, E, I, O.” And if someone comes up to his cage and asks, “Polly want a cracker,” sometimes he’ll correct them.

“If he doesn’t get food right away, he’ll say, ‘Billy want a cracker!’” Sammy said.

And sometimes Billy does get a cracker, when Sammy feeds him some of the peanut-butter Ritz sandwich crackers that come in pouches. Of course, the only thing the bird wants is the peanut butter on the inside, and he’s more than capable of pulling away the crackers to get at that sweet treat.

In fact, Billy’s beak is more than just a cracker-opener.

“He can actually use it like a third leg to climb up someone,” Sammy said. “In fact, that scares a lot of people — they think he’s going to bite them, but he’s only climbing.

“Really the only one that he bites is me, and that’s when he doesn’t want to be held anymore.”

The Jenkinses got Billy when he was just two days old, and he has been a part of their lives — and the life of Sammy’s Bait and Tackle — ever since. The store opened in December 2002, and Billy’s first appearance there was April of the following year.

“When he was a baby, I didn’t want to leave him at home, so we started taking him to the store so we could keep an eye on him,” Yvonne said.

Billy has since become the store’s “mascot,” so to speak. There are even T-shirts available that feature the bird and the phrase “I saw Billy at Sammy’s.” Sammy said that workers at the Georgia Industries of the Blind drew the image and created the T-shirts, which are sold at the store.

“I even saw a person wearing one in Atlanta once,” Sammy said.

At the end of the day, Billy goes home with the Jenkinses, where he is treated more like a member of the family than a pet. Yvonne said he takes showers where his feathers are washed with baby shampoo, and then blow dried. He also sleeps with the couple in their bed, and has carte blanche to nip at Sammy anytime he needs to go for a potty break or get a snack.

“He really shows us a lot of love and he’s got a great personality,” Yvonne said.

And if there’s any doubt who runs the show, that question was answered during a recent Halloween visit from trick-or-treaters.

“There was this little boy who came up to our door and he saw the bird and he turned around and said, ‘Hey momma! This is where Billy lives!,” Sammy said. And then, almost as an afterthought, the boy responded with, “Oh, and Mr. Sammy is here too!”