Winging It

It's nearly 11 a.m. at the Tropicana, and about 70 tourists have trickled into a lounge situated between a stretch of slot machines and a buffet.

Joe Krathwohl, known as the "Birdman of Las Vegas," wheels in two carts with cages housing exotic birds. He removes the birds, setting them on their respective perches, and then flips on a recorded introduction for the show.

It's showtime at the Tropics Lounge.

Coco, a 40-year-old cockatoo, opens the show by chuckling on command and singing a bit from "Jingle Bells," but wins her first round of applause by imitating an eagle.

On cue a macaw named Boomer flies toward the stage from a cage near the back of the bar, then hops onto a miniature scooter for a ride before peddling a specially designed toy Ferrari.

After being juggled by the birdman on his back with a plastic daisy in his mouth, Boomer disappears into his cage, handing the stage over to Chester and Lolita, two Amazon parrots from Central America who can sing and imitate a valley girl's most famous phrase, "Oh my gawd."

Krathwohl lives with 400 birds and other exotic animals on a 1 1/2-acre piece of land in Las Vegas. He performs three 20-minute bird shows six days a week at the Tropicana, and supplies birds for a number of other shows at venues around town.

He travels the country performing at fairs and occasionally makes appearances with his birds on such TV shows as NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman."

More recently a dozen of Krathwohl's scorpions landed a role in the movie "3,000 Miles to Graceland."

Flipping through a leopard-print photo album between shows on a recent afternoon, Krathwohl showed off his exotic housemates -- a colorful array of white tigers, exotic birds and snakes, some which lounge in his living room or around the pool.

A master falconer, he said he enjoys the company of animals more than people. "Animals don't tell you they love you on Monday and come with a U-Haul (truck) to clean out your house on Thursday."

He said used to think of his feathered and furry pals as pets. "Now its more like the creatures that I live with for now. I don't own them. Anything that can be taken away (either by flying away or dying), I don't own.

"The closest thing I have to a pet is a ferret," he said. "But he, too, is going to work eventually. "

For Krathwohl, show business had gone to the birds years ago.

He bought himself a small bird for his 10th birthday, discovered it was easy to train and eight years later was traveling the country doing bird shows at state fairs.

"My junior year of college is when I knew I was going to do this for a living," he said.

He trains many of his animals, but focuses on birds for his shows because of their popularity.

"There's nothing evil about birds," he said. "I don't think a rattlesnake show would go over as well."

Training rattlesnakes might be easier, however. Krathwohl said his biggest challenge in working with birds is to keep them from flying away.

"Sometimes instincts take over," he said. During the summer months, "a falcon (might) think, 'I'm supposed to be in Canada right now,' and will fly away over the mountain.

"Ninety percent of the work is having them come home with me," he added. "Not every bird is cut out to do what they do," he said, referring to the winged celebrities onstage awaiting their next performance.

Among them is Rosie, a dedicated white and red-headed bird used in the show's finale. Rosie flies through pink-lighted hoops in the show and doubles as a ring bearer at some weddings that take place at the Tropicana.

Although she seems faithful during the show, Krathwohl explained that she's only working for a living, and emotionally unattached to him.

"They're protective over their source of survival," he said "I'm at the other end of the hoops. Period."

So, how then does he get them to carry on conversations, drive little cars and play fetch?

"Sound is arbitrary," Krathwohl said. "This sound has to be followed by this sound in order to get a treat."

Oh.

"Animals live in a reactionary world," he explained. "It's a real practice of Abraham Maslow's (theory of) hierarchy of need. The patterns that drive animals are just very basic.

"Their need to stay alive among predators in the wild makes them environmentally attentive."

This can be advantageous when working lounge acts in Las Vegas.

"They know the order of the show," Krathwohl said. "They know when the (other) birds are ending. They know when their time is."

As Chester and Lolita finish up their singing act, Vicki, a 7-year-old Andean condor with a 10-foot wing span, suddenly begins racking the walls of her cage.

A brief introduction ensues and within minutes she's playing fetch on a 20-foot stretch of carpet between the audience and the stage, then leaping from a platform onto Krathwohl's arm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause for the best-trained condor in showbiz, Vicki!"

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