In Memoriam: Ciro #2, Nov. 2000 - Feb. 2012, Part 2

Ciro adjusted nicely as a family member. He was free to roam around almost all the time while we were at home, he shared our family dinners, and went on trips with us.

 

We almost lost him just after we moved into the house. Since he was so clever, he figured out how to open his cage door. We had a clip on it, and when we took it off, he would open the door for himself. But then he also figured out how to slide up the little side door for his food bowls. The door didn't stay up, so for him to get out he had to slide it up and then quickly jump out before the door slided back down. One day, on Good Friday 2006, while I was at work, my brother left him on the patio table while he was inside the house. Ciro didn't care that much for being left outside alone, so he kept pushing up that door until he finally got out. At the moment my brother heard him make the noise with the door, he ran out but just in time to see Ciro fly away to the nearest tree!

He called me frantically at work, I quickly made a flyer with his picture, and rushed home. By the time I got there, my brother was already running with the cage through the neighborhood following his loud chirping sound. I posted couple of flyers on the mailboxes and joined in the search. Ciro was at that time one block away, parked on a tallest tree in someone's backyard, and chirping his heart away! He responded better to my chirp calls then Zoran's, so I started calling for him so that we can follow where he is by the sound, as we couldn't see him that high any more. When it was apparent which tree he was in, we asked the owners to get into their yard to try to get Ciro to come down. Next, Zoran went up on their roof with the cage, so that Ciro could see him better and come down, and I kept calling him. He spent probably about 3-4 hours on that roof, got sunburn in 90 degree heat, and I jaw cramps from making the same sound, but Ciro wouldn't move. Since it was going to get dark soon, I had the idea to try the magic oven mitt, or paper towels, both of which he loved to attack. We borrowed some extra long ladders, taped a paper towel to some long metal pole, and Zoran climbed up the tree as far as he could go. After some more calling and encouraging, Ciro finally came down to grab the paper. That was one long day!

THE oven mitt

Aside from that one event, he didn't seem too excited when we took him in the cage outside. He didn't respond to other bird calls outside. He also had little opportunity to play with other birds. When he was still a youngster, some good friends of mine had a parrot larger than Ciro, and we would pet-sit for each other, and sometimes bring our birds when we visited. Ciro had no issue with the other bird's size, and would chase him around.

Ciro and Kiki

He loved to take showers. While we were in the apartment, since he loved the kitchen so much, he didn't mind bathing in the kitchen sink.

He also used any opportunity he got to shower in the bathroom sync, but he was fine with just a plate with some water, too. He was also known to splash in the glass of water! He got used to drinking water or juice from the glass, so the next obvious step was bathing in it, right?

 

After several years, I got an idea to build him a play station. I actually first bought one, and then realized it was simple enough I could make it myself and returned the one I bought. After few uses, I noticed that often when I place him on the perch there, he would first poop, and then look disinterested to do anything else there. So I got some bird cage litter sand, and from then on we used it as a "potty station"! It worked really well. He learned that's what it's for pretty fast, and would do his job as soon as I'd place him there. Even if he can't "produce" anything at the moment, he would still try and make the familiar motion. Certain times a year when he was in nesting mode, I'd hang a wire ball with paper pieces inside of it and he learned to just fly directly on there, do his thing, and collect papers instead from the other resources in the house.

Potty-station version 2 was an even better hit.

Like most lovebirds, Ciro never learned any words. They just have that raspy, high pitch voice, that makes any words they might learn not recognizable. But he learned sounds. He had a particular sound he would make after a cough, another one after a sneeze. We would say that he was making fun of us for coughing/sneezing. He also learned to imitate a squeaky kitchen faucet I had, and he would make the sound as soon as he'd see someone approach the faucet. It was really funny. Oh, and I can't forget a terrifying sound he'd make when he felt danger. There was a neigborhood cat that used to run through our backyard. As soon as he would see her, even if he was inside the house, by the noise he would make we knew without a doubt that the cat was nearby.

Calling for help from the squirrel

The one word he really tried to say, I think, was his name Ciro (Cheero). Sometimes if I said it right in front of him, or emphasize the first letter, his response would sound almost the same. Or when we played giving kisses, he would flap his wings and got all excited to respond back.

The sweetest sounds were when he was half asleep and singing himself a lullaby. He usually did this only when he couldn't see anyone around. Here I caught him singing and then played the recording back to him. He went nuts trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. So adorable!

 

He had so many of these cute moments and tricks, that when I talked about him to one breeder in Bosnia, he had me compile a DVD so that he could show it on his bird tv show!

Ciro ate many table foods with us. Probably more than he should have. Until the last six months, I only fed him a seed mix, with some sunflower, and some treats, all of which were full of fat (I didn't know that at the time). He enjoyed apples, grapes, and cherries. With us he would eat anything from carrots, peas, rice, bell peppers...to cheese, cookies, even chocolate (again a very bad thing for him - which I didn't know). The weird bird would even go for raw eggs when he saw them poured in a bowl for mixing, but we really tried to get him away from those. He really enjoyed certain multi-grain bread we'd share with him. He could spend an hour devouring a slice to get all the grains out. He LOVED ice cream! Like get-his-whole-beak-in-there and get-it-all-over-his-face type of loved.

mmm, cake!

He was pretty much into chewing on paper (or blinds, or anything he could tear up) up until the last year. When he was nesting, it was the worst. He was then not interested in anything else, just to find something to shred. He knew what a stern NO meant. I was convinced he knew. And he would stop what he was about to get into. For a second. But I would eventually have to get up and remove him from the situation, because that bird was stubborn! I would be rich if I had a penny for every time I had to chase him away from the blinds. All the cords have his marks on them. The arch window coverings took the worst beating. The large one in the main living area had to come down, because it was literally in pieces after he was done with it. The smaller one in my room was a big temptation for him every time the door to the room was even a bit open. He would wait on the corner of the kitchen cabinet for an opportunity to sneak into the room when I was not looking.

rascal

Ciro started laying eggs around the age of 2 years, and up to about 8.5. She usually had 4 eggs, and I would let her lay on them for a couple of weeks. If I removed them earlier, her body would produce new eggs right after, which was very draining on her. After 2 weeks she was ready to move on. She had eggs 2-3 times a year, but the last two times she only laid one eggs. The very last egg was a bit soft, and I was afraid she might start having issues from then on. That is why I took her to the vet for the first time thinking she had trouble passing an egg, but luckily that wasn't the case.

He was not sure what to make of this game

His demeanor and habits changed drastically in the last couple of years, especially last few months, when his sickness got worse...