Charlie is a You You Senegal Parrot, two years old and had not had his wings clipped for a year. He has amazing flying skills and so I was hesitant to clip his wings again. Yesterday, while addressing an issue with ant near the back door, Charlie flew from the front of the house and out the back door of our porch. It happened in an instant.
Charlie landed in a small tree in our yard that was about 20 feet high. We talked to him for awhile but he appeared a little anxious. I brought a ladder to the tree and as I climbed the ladder he flew upwards to approximately 500 feet. I put the ladder against the house and scrambled up the rungs and ran to the peak of the house. He appeared as a small two seater prop airplane flying as far as the eyes could see. And then he slowly turned and flew over the house and repeated the same flight path of a good 3 to 5 kilometres in diameter. All the while, we were calling his name and whistling. We lost site of him at 1pm.
We rode our bicycles through the neighbourhood and listened. Our streets are lined with 100 foot mature trees and they are filled with birds. It was a cacophony of bird calls. It all seemed hopeless.
We returned home and I contacted Perroquet Secours. I placed ads in the phone application Nextdoor to alert all my neighbours. This appeared more effective than postering the neighbourhood with Lost Bird Signs.
Around 2 pm we could hear his distinctive bird calls.
We brought binoculars, his favourite treats, a squeaky ball and strained our neck for hours trying to spot him. Then, there he was. Happy as could be. Proud and seemingly quite content with his escape. From the binoculars, he was looking at me and comfortable knowing we were nearby. He answered our calls and responded with glee.
Then, the skies became very dark and it started to rain. People were gathered on the street. People from the house next door brought us umbrellas and lawn chairs. We sat in heavy rain fall and wind for 45 minutes while Charlie hung on to the flapping tree limbs. Three hours had passed and we both needed to go home and get water and tylenol. There was no time for despair as it was seeming hopeless.
By 5pm, we brought a bowl of spaghetti as it is his favourite food. We rattled the tines of the fork and spoon and get calling. He was still 50 feet in the air and curious but not taking the bait. By 6pm, the skies had darkened and it was getting more difficult to see him. We were resigned to the fact that he may spend the night in the tree. So we went home, all the while I was squeaking his squeaky ball in the hopes he would follow us.
We opened all of the windows and lay on the bed, consoling each other and then .... we heard his distinctive call. He had flown closer to our house but was still far away. We went to the back yard and sat down and continued with the ball and fork tines and spoon. Waiting.
By 7pm, Charlie flew into our backyard and sat on the hydro electrical lines. He spotted his cage. I showed him some biscuits and cracked the plastic wrap. he landed on our fence and bounced onto my shoulder. He demanded a biscuit and in the house we went.
If anyone can translate into French, please do so ... thank you everyone!!
Once Charlie was found, we had plenty of replies to answer on facebook to the many friends worried and to notify Perroquet Secours that he was found. I hope you enjoy our story.
