Article: A BIRD BACK IN HAND MAN'S `HEARING-EAR' PARROT BACK ON THE JOB AFTER ESCAPE.(Lifestyles/Spotlight)(Colorado Critters Page)

Byline: Rebecca Jones Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

A Capitol Hill man with a hearing impairment has been reunited with the bird who serves as his ears.

Calpurnia, a 15-year-old African gray parrot, was on the lam for five days last week, leaving Robert Boyan devastated. With no hearing in one ear and only 50 percent hearing in the other, the 57-year-old man counts on his bird to alert him to ringing telephones and doorbells.

``When the phone rings, she'll start screeching, `Hello! Hello!' loud enough that I can hear her,'' Boyan says. ``I never taught her to do it. I think she just got tired of the phone ringing and ringing.''

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