‘Bird Brain’ and Other Compliments

By GABRIELLA BOCK | Reporter

He is young, handsome and multilingual. And he can fly.

Meet “Cairo,” the African Grey Parrot who has been causing a sensation in the Alphabet Streets by speaking in five different languages.

The star bird belongs to Marna Geisler, a practicing pediatrics doctor with a heart for rescue animals. She says her new companion is a socially adaptable bird who has integrated well into her culturally diverse family.

Geisler, who hosts two international students—Mimi from Japan and Matthew from Korea—said that having multi-linguistic influences in her home has been a huge asset for the young bird’s developing vocabulary.

“So far Cairo has learned greetings in Chinese, Japanese, English and Spanish,” Geisler told the Palisadian-Post. “Now he’s working on his Korean.”

Polite as can be, the African Grey begins each day by offering his family the kind greeting “Ohayou”—meaning “good morning” in Japanese—before breakfast.

Not a fan of dining alone, Cairo will often eat his morning meal in the kitchen along with Geisler’s two dogs, Pinkman and Trouble.

Named after an Egyptian excursion Geisler enjoyed with her children in 2011, Cairo is already a big fan of traveling. When he’s not learning new words or watching his favorite movie, “Happy Feet,” Cairo is exploring the Alphabet Streets with his doting guardian.

“He loves to take mini trips around the neighborhood,” Geisler said.

“When the weather is warm enough, he will ride along on the tops of my shoulders while I take my dogs for a walk. He loves to be outside.”

Geisler adopted Cairo from Omar’s Exotic Birds in Santa Monica following last year’s bird-napping of her previous African Grey Parrot, Grady. The bird had been securely locked in his cage before disappearing during the middle of the day.

“Losing Grady was completely devastating,” Geisler acknowledged. “He was a smart bird who regularly interacted with my neighbors. I hope that he’s happy—wherever he may be.”

But like with most sad tales—a silver lining appeared. In what Geisler refers to as a “meaningful coincidence,” Cairo hatched on Feb. 9, 2016, the exact day that Grady had been reported stolen from her front yard.

“He’s another special pet of the Palisades,” Geisler said as she smoothed Cairo’s feathers. “I was thinking we could have Cairo and Central [referring to Palisadian Peter Sheehy and his family’s recently adopted 10-year-old African spurred tortoise] meet sometime.”

Perhaps this could be the start of a most unusual friendship.