Pippa, a 17-year-old Cockatoo, has spent two weeks trying to hatch a bowl of chocolate Easter eggs intended for visitors to an English wildlife center, the owner said Wednesday.

“It is very comical. She is not usually maternal so it has come as a bit of a surprise,” said Geoff Grewcock, of the Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary in central England. “We had a lot of cream eggs so we put them in a dish on a table for people to take. When we got Pippa out, she went straight to them and began nesting on them,” he said.

“She is so protective over them and if anyone goes near them she will attack,” Grewcock added. “They are going to melt if we don’t take them away. We are taking them away gradually so she should be OK. I think she thinks they should be hatching now and has starting pecking at them. It is very strange.”