Sadly, Gary (Sugar Plum) the lovebird died yesterday. He had appeared fine but Ian found him at the bottom of the cage last night when we went to bed. We had no clues that he was ill so it was a bit of a surprise.
This means that poor Barry (Nutcracker) is now left on her own. I’m not sure how she will cope with that. She’s not very friendly (to us) so it’s difficult to comfort her. Lovebirds can become depressed after the death of one they are bonded to – so we need to keep an eye on her.
She doesn’t seem to distressed at the moment – of course, while Gary dying was a surprise to us, she may well have known he was ill. She doesn’t seem to be looking for him or calling. We’ve moved her cage closer to Ludvig. When he was a baby and their cages were close together she used to nibble his tail through the bars, so he’ll at least be company.
Later today I will go out and pick some fresh bamboo to put in her cage as they are mega-shredders, and hopefully that will give her plenty to shred and perhaps will keep her distracted. The other thing I will do is to buy a little nest, as they used to like snuggling and maybe if she has somewhere safe to go, she may not feel so sad.
It would have been the village fiesta this weekend – but that’s not happening. Instead, there are two open air masses (which I doubt would be regarded as a great substitute by party-goers). True to form, after MONTHS of no rain – storms are forecast for the weekend. This happens almost every year – there is most definitely a message there somewhere!