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March 15, 2000
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Coco - March 2000
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Coco, my lovebird is now over 1 year old and I still don't
know if it is a boy or a girl. That's the reason we call the
bird "Coco" there is no gender attached to that name. We think
it might be a girl so I will use that pronoun from now on.
As I said on the previous page she was born on Dec 31, 1998
and we got her from the breeder on February 13, 1999, 4 days
after she was weaned. For the first 2 days I was paying a
lot of attention to her and she totally imprinted on me. I
kept her cage close to me and talked and touched her a lot.
 At
first, I feed her bird pellets, but found that an awful lot
went to waste. So after my first package was finished I went
looking for some other birdfood and found 'Tropican Bird Granules'
for medium sized birds. It contains seven grains and nuts
with fruit and there is no waste as the bird eats all the
food. I also experimented with different vegetables and fruits.
She doesn't like broccoli, and isn't interested in lettuce
like the budgies were, but just adores apples. She even says
apple, more about talking later. Fresh water is very important
for the bird. That means cleaning the water dish daily. Regarding
baths, well she's fickle about that. Sometimes when I change
her cage she jumps under the running water and other times
she runs away from it. She also likes to nibble on wood. She
destroys new wooden clothespins and she also makes slivers
out of popsicle sticks. The floor around her cage looks like
a woodworkers floor. We call her lovingly our little 'woodchuck'.
She also likes to nibble on paper and makes lots of confetti.
I guess she like the feel of her beak going through the paper.
Now about talking. Lovebirds don't talk like parrots. Their
voice box doesn't seem to allow it. The only words she says
that sound like that of a parrot are 'kiss, kiss'. The way
she talks is kind of voiceless. It sounds like an old man
mumbling under his breath. She has quite a vocabulary. She
says: step up, her name, mom, apple, what's that?, no, stick,
plus much more that I just can't remember. Often she repeats
what we say. She also has a very good comprehension of what
we are saying when we are talking to her. We can ask her where
a member of the family is and if they are in the same room
she will shake her head 'yes' and chirp 'hello'. If they are
not in the same room, she will shake her head 'no' and chirp
'hello'. Without realizing I used to shake my head oneway
for yes and another for no when I was saying these words and
she picked it up. As I work at home, I am in the same room
as her most of the time and leave the cage door open and she
climbs on top of her cage and watches me. That brings me to
an important point: keep the flight feathers clipped. It is
like a hair cut and doesn't hurt the bird. She still will
try to fly, but is not able to sustain flight and gradually
sinks to the ground. Sometimes she even comes looking for
us when she hears our voices in another part of the house.
Then she climbs the carpeted stairs and comes to us. I have
taught her, that she has to make a noise when she's on the
floor so that we don't step on her by mistake as she's so
tiny. Now, whenever she's on the move she makes a noise and
we know she's not in the cage.
 Sometimes,
on the weekend when my daughter wants to sleep late and the
bird is up and noisy I take her with me to the kitchen when
I eat breakfast and the two of us enjoy my slice of bread
together. She also likes fruit juices and drinks the residue
left in the glass. It looks so cute the way she's perched
on top of the glass with her tailfeather sticking straight
up and her head in the bottom of the glass.
 She
has a tendency to go for my earrings, but I have taught her
what the word 'no' means. I used to say no and blow at her
beak and she doesn't like that. So now, all I have to do is
say 'no' very sternly and she doesn't do it.
We are always surprised how smart she is, given the fact
that she comes in such a small package. She's very smart and
very observant. At times she's perched on her cage and intently
watches me. It looks to me like she's trying to figure out
what I am doing. She's a delight to have.
More pictures of Coco
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