Wednesday, March 18, 2009 By: Suzanne

Home Story: Lucina

Lucina is an albino cockatiel. Not that it means anything regarding true albino-ism. It just means that she's an all white cockatiel with red eyes. To get an albino cockatiel, one must cross breed a Whiteface cockatiel with a Lutino cockatiel, making a Whiteface Lutino but referred to as "albino." This may not be very interesting to non-bird people but I find it fascinating!

When Lucina was a baby, she was very loving to everyone. She wanted to be held by everyone and would let anyone scratch her neck (her favorite). Now that she's a little older, 5 years, she's pretty much bonded to me. She'll fly around the house looking for me when I'm not in her sight and whistle for me to come back when I walk out of the room. All cockatiels (and cockatoos too) can hiss (yes, hiss like a cat). Lucina uses her hiss often. When someone comes too close to her cage when she's not wanting them there, she hisses while spreading her feathers in a get-away-from-me manner. I've tried slowly get her to bond to Jeff over the past three years, but it's been difficult since he has a dog that likes to eat birds.

One thing Lucina enjoys is music in a high register. When I play my flute she whistles along, when she hears whistling on a song she sings along, and when Jeff plays the piano she whistles and dances. Genious that he is, he brought her out one day when I wasn't home and began playing Cradle Song by Theodor Kullak on the piano with her on his shoulder. He plays it in the very top octave. Now, whenever he plays it, she yells to come out of the cage, she dances and bangs on bars or if she's out, she flies around the room. Cradle Song is Lucina's new theme song and she and Jeff have finally bonded.

2 comments:

Christine said...

WOW .... that was great!!! Helped me remember a few little 'bonded with me' memories ,,,, thank you!

Suzanne said...

awwww, I'm glad! Do you mean with your animals? What kind do you have?

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