itchyfeet
New member
- Nov 1, 2014
- 1,013
- 7
- Parrots
- Ethyl the cockatiel, Henry & Clarke the IRN's, and Skittles the lovebird (my daughters)
So Clarke is our rehab/rescue, he was well loved but with an owner who couldn't handle him whatsoever. He was available as an aviary bird only. With us and the help of our other ringneck, he's warmed up nicely. He's in mint condition and an incredibly strong and accurate flier.
The birds were on the playstand, I was working at my desk that sits in front of large windows. Suddenly, a glimpse of blue sailed past on a gust. It was a very gusty day.
I thought the house was shut up. In one of the bedrooms, one of the windows was barely open. He made it through.
Heart in mouth, I took off to the park that was in the direction he flew. I spent a good half hour calling and searching with no luck. I went home, moved the rest of the flock to travel cages and stuck them outside, and then I hit social media hard. He was all over our country's (ebay eqiv.), neighbourhood connection sites, Missing animal sites, facebook etc. The kids made posters and plastered the area, and we made sure all vets and the RSPCA were aware that he was out there.
But when a parrot goes missing, and especially a strong agile flier who has only just began to trust humans, there's only so much you can do.
Henry stopped talking. I tried to minimise my crying - I have two children and this was in the lead up to Christmas. It was already hard enough.
We went on our camping trip. The kids had been excited and I couldn't cancel it on an unlikely chance. I held out hope, but we had had crazy hot summer days amist torrential rain and gusts. All I could do with think about Maggie. I was adjusting to being a one ringneck girl.
Then, a facebook post had come though. In the next township over to where we reside, a blue IRN had been sighted in a tree. At this time, we were two and a half hours away. We got hold of the person who had sighted him. She'd had ringnecks before so she was sure it was him. She also said he was settled and not flittering between trees. She was apologetic, she had to leave him as she had her young baby and needed to get home. That's all we needed - we were in the car.
My good friend had also seen the facebook post, and hadn't bothered to tell me. She bolted out of the house - forgetting her cellphone! Whizzed to my mother in laws, and then they stopped here and picked up Henry. They had him in their line of sight hours before I would have had the chance. He spotted and heard Henry, who, for the first time in nine days, was now talking up a storm. Eventually he landed on the cage long enough that my mother in law was able to throw a t-shirt over him and get him back in the cage. An hour into my 'just in case' drive home, I got the phone call. People here had seen facebook too. And they had him. he was safe.
Clarke came home. Our Christmas miracle.
The birds were on the playstand, I was working at my desk that sits in front of large windows. Suddenly, a glimpse of blue sailed past on a gust. It was a very gusty day.
I thought the house was shut up. In one of the bedrooms, one of the windows was barely open. He made it through.
Heart in mouth, I took off to the park that was in the direction he flew. I spent a good half hour calling and searching with no luck. I went home, moved the rest of the flock to travel cages and stuck them outside, and then I hit social media hard. He was all over our country's (ebay eqiv.), neighbourhood connection sites, Missing animal sites, facebook etc. The kids made posters and plastered the area, and we made sure all vets and the RSPCA were aware that he was out there.
But when a parrot goes missing, and especially a strong agile flier who has only just began to trust humans, there's only so much you can do.
Henry stopped talking. I tried to minimise my crying - I have two children and this was in the lead up to Christmas. It was already hard enough.
We went on our camping trip. The kids had been excited and I couldn't cancel it on an unlikely chance. I held out hope, but we had had crazy hot summer days amist torrential rain and gusts. All I could do with think about Maggie. I was adjusting to being a one ringneck girl.
Then, a facebook post had come though. In the next township over to where we reside, a blue IRN had been sighted in a tree. At this time, we were two and a half hours away. We got hold of the person who had sighted him. She'd had ringnecks before so she was sure it was him. She also said he was settled and not flittering between trees. She was apologetic, she had to leave him as she had her young baby and needed to get home. That's all we needed - we were in the car.
My good friend had also seen the facebook post, and hadn't bothered to tell me. She bolted out of the house - forgetting her cellphone! Whizzed to my mother in laws, and then they stopped here and picked up Henry. They had him in their line of sight hours before I would have had the chance. He spotted and heard Henry, who, for the first time in nine days, was now talking up a storm. Eventually he landed on the cage long enough that my mother in law was able to throw a t-shirt over him and get him back in the cage. An hour into my 'just in case' drive home, I got the phone call. People here had seen facebook too. And they had him. he was safe.
Clarke came home. Our Christmas miracle.
Whenever people say about luring a birdy back with thier feathered friend in a cage, I've always thought about that moment when they are there infront of you and you've got to pounce. I could never envision a successful capture in my minds eye - so I bought an extending fisherman's landing net (just incase)! So happy Clarke was bought safely home! Congratulations!
