Pino Pino is the full - bodied character on " Sesamstraat " , the Dutch co - production of " Sesame Street " . His role on the street is similar to Big Bird ' s , whom he physically resembles . Pino is a large blue bird that represents the psychological age of a four year old . He is always cheerful and eager to learn new things . He is a little younger than his friends Tommie and Ieniemienie , and sometimes he has a little trouble keeping up with them . Being the second youngest , he likes to play with Purk . He is best known for his funny laugh and his catchphrase " Echt waar ? ! " ( " Really ? ! " ) He is also very sensitive . Pino has been a part of the " Sesamstraat " cast from the beginning in 1976 . He started out as a big , clumsy , dopey bird with a Belgian accent ; the first episodes were Dutch / Belgian coproductions . He evolved slowly from an ageless bird who is a little slower than the others to a more childlike Pino . Performers . Pino has had many different performers through the years , including Dirk Grijspeirt ( 1976 ) , Theo Joling ( 1977 ) , Bert Plagman ( 1979 ) , Erik J . Meijer ( 1980 ) and Leo Dijkgraaf ( 1984 ) . In 1991 , Renée Menschaar started performing Pino , and she has been his regular performer ever since . She is the first woman to play Pino , who has always remained a boy character . History . Six different Pino puppets have been used through the run of the show . The first puppet was made by producer Ton Hasebos and was rather plump and messy looking . Ton wanted to let the childeren use their imagination to decide what kind of bird Pino was , although Ton himself kept a penguin in mind for the design . In a previous television show called " Kabouter Kandelaar " , Ton had written adventures about Pino " the pinguin " , who was also blue and close in appearance to the original Pino from " Sesamstraat " . Through the years Pino lost a little weight , his white tummy became blue like the rest of his body , his legs grew , and his eyes switched from realistic to cartoonlike , and from blue to black . Chuck Fawcett ( from Animax Designs ) re - designed Pino in the late 1980s . He continued to build the puppet until 1994 . Pino went through the most drastic change in 1999 . In order to make him look younger , his beak was shortened , he got yellow feathers around his eyes and he got colorful feathers on his head . The Nest . From the beginning of the series , Pino lived in a nest . The first Pino nest was on the rooftop , like a stork ' s nest . It could only be reached by climbing a stepladder . In the 1980 ' s , the nest area was moved downstairs , on a heightened platform . The nest was abandoned in 2005 when the street set became abstract . These days Pino can be seen sleeping on the beach , or in a bedroom with the other puppets . Big Bird . Big Bird is not featured on " Sesamstraat " episodes , but he does show up in dubbed versions of movies and specials on DVD , and in the Sesame Street Live shows . For a while Big Bird was named Pino in merchandise , but after many confusing name mixups - - ( " How can Pino be blue AND yellow at the same time ? " ) - - he became Pino ' s cousin . Big Bird ' s Dutch name is Neef Jan ; Cousin John in English . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _