One of the more sucky things that happened while we were away for summer was that we suffered yet another loss. As if 2008 was not bad enough to start with.

It's been a month now, but it still feels raw and at the same time I'm wondering if I am totally over-reacting. Perhaps this was just the last drop that made my cup of bitterness overflow.

While we were out sailing in the Stockholm archipelago, our dear little cockatiel, Sheila, died. She had been unwell for a few days in early July when we were sailing down near Västervik, but after staying in a bay and keeping the heater cranked up high for a few days, she seemed to recover and be back to her normal self. Her mate, Bruce, groomed her a lot more than usual, but it didn't raise any concerns. We just thought how cute and loving they were.

Then a month later, she just dropped dead without warning. She was 16, so a good age, but gosh it was so hard! It was horrible - poor Bruce tried to revive her, then guarded her body for a while. We finally had to take her and bury her under an old oak tree at one of our favourite islands in the northern part of the archipelago. Many tears were shed by both L-G and myself as she was a dear little companion.




We then faced a distraught Bruce who called out for her and then screeched for a mate. It was interesting to see how he totally ignored us while he called out constantly waiting for an answer. He is normally so responsive to us, but I could see nature taking over. We decided that he needed a mate, so we contacted friends in Nynäshamn who looked around for a female while we sailed back down there from Ängsö. We had no luck finding a female - there are plenty of males for sale or nesting pairs, but no single females.

The only thing we found was someone with a 5 year old female looking for a male bird. We talked about it and decided that as much as we'd hate to lose Bruce, we HAD to find him a mate and so we contacted this person, who lives just outside of Linköping. Bruce is 7 years old, so a good age for her bird (Twistie - and would you believe she had never heard of Twisties? How freaky that her bird was named after an Australian snack food. I'm going to get her some Twisties to try).

Anyway, we took him there and the minute Twistie answered his call, Bruce stopped the plaintive screeching and began to chirp and chatter instead. He was so excited and happy and dying to get out and meet this new female. I honestly didn't want to lose him, but he was grieving and calling out for a new mate that I had to put his needs before my own. And this is a wonderful animal loving family, living on a farm, surrounded by birds and animals.

It was the hardest thing I've had to do for a very long time. Apparently he won over Twistie in a day, moved into HER cage the first night (typical man, eller hur?) and now they are inseparable, grooming each other all the time and he's already got his leg over.

I still remember how excited we were when we got them back in 2003. They came with us everywhere - sailing, car trips, visits to the summerhouse. They were such an important part of our lives and I still can't believe they are gone.

:(

I put together some pictures of them at Photobucket (password: bruce2008). And yes, that is a password only for that album. It won't get you into my bank account to steal the 45 öre I have there. So Nigerian spammers can go away.

And a little video of Brucie at YouTube:




I know, I know, they are only birds. But they were special to me.