Finding a Lost African Grey Parrot. A Success Story!

Losing a parrot can be heartbreaking! And it can happen to the best of us. I was thrilled to receive this success story about Scarlett, the African grey parrot. I hope it inspires more people to be prepared for a possible parrot escape. It does not take much to have all your tools in place and it can certainly make the job of recovering your parrot a lot easier. Thank you to Keith and Christine for allowing me to share their story with you.


Dear Ms. Heidenreich,

We recently joined a bird support group near Cincinnati and as an organization we showed your video "Get Your Bird Back" to the membership, with DVDs up for sale. This occurred last Sunday and Wednesday my African grey parrot escaped out the back door. We tried to call her but she flew higher and higher and we lost sight of her.

While we had not completed obtaining all the materials you suggest, we had a carrier and most importantly had already trained our two year old bird to step up to us and strangers and to fly to us. We placed the flyers, the Internet ads, newspaper classified, called zoos, vets, TV stations and police departments and then tried not to go crazy with grief.

Yesterday we received a call from a woman who was on a scenic bike trail about 10 miles from our home. She had been out walking and then stopped at a local park where she was near a nature center booth. A man came off the trail and reported he saw a bird on the trail. He stopped and had the bird step up on a stick. This gathered attention and he moved the parrot away and then tried to wrap the bird in a small towel ( He knows nothing of parrot care but he was smart!) She did bite him and then flew away. This woman went to the nature center and asked about the story and then called a vet she used ( the same as mine) and the word was out! This woman called me, my breeder form Columbus Ohio called me, our organization members called....... the hunt was on.

I arrived at the bike trail about an hour later and the woman who called me started walking back up the trail to find the bird, as we kept in touch, she heard another biker say they saw a group of people with the bird up the trail. I drove to that end point of the trail and the woman caller and myself closed in the gap between us but never found the crowd of people or any other reports.

My wife was on her way to this area and immediately called the police department and reported the bird missing. They did not seem too interested at first but my wife made it personal for the officer with her loss and then he wrote a more accurate report. She then drove to a point on the bike trail where we were and we started getting people to different spots up and down the trail to look. At this point, the lady who called left, but not without taking flyers to post near where she lived and she said she would contact local vets near her. (She is a bird Saint!)

We posted fliers on the two ends of the trail and then my wife and I were going to walk the 4 miles of the trail from each end again to meet in the middle as it was getting near dusk. I was then called by the police department with a report that a bird had landed on a basketball goal near a man who was mulching in the town nearby.

I raced, and I mean raced to the house and saw no bird on the goal but another man said the one who was mulching had the bird. It seems that when Scarlett came to land near the man on the goal, his wife thought he was being attacked, but he was calm and told her to go get crackers. He knew it was a pet by the band on the leg. The bird flew to his shoulder and started eating. I taught Scarlett to fly to me this way. He then walked into his garage and put down the door. (Smart!!!)

We found Scarlett inside, put her in the cage and asked for water which she took out of a bottle. She is home now and I am thanking all of those involved including you. Thank you for the video and the help. While we knew we may never have found her again, we knew that you gave us the best chances for success. We are your fans forever.

Keith and Christine Denning

http://www.goodbirdinc.com/

Help! Lost Parrot.

It has been a busy week for me. First I spent five days teaching in Colorado, then I had fun entertaining the VP of the Parrot Society of Australia, and then ……I came down with the flu.

But in the middle of all that, my new DVD arrived!! Actually it is a joint project from Robin Shewokis of the Leather Elves and yours truly. Both Robin and I can’t count the number of times we have had an email come across our desks that started with the words “Help! Lost Parrot!” I can sympathize with the anguish the author of that email is experiencing. I once had my parrot fly out a door. I was able to quickly get him back, but for those moments my heart was pounding.

Robin and I have long discussed the need for a comprehensive teaching tool to help people get their bird back or prevent the loss of one due to an accidental escape. And finally this summer we were able to film it, as well as collect tons of parrot vocalizations, prepare lost template flyers for over 50 species and put together useful checklists and resources.

“Get your Bird Back” includes a 27 minute instructional DVD and a separate CD ROM full of additional resources. It is designed to help parrot owners should that day come that their parrot escapes. It will also help parrot owners prepare in advance and prevent an escape. We both hope parrot owners from all over the world can benefit from this resource.

You can buy a copy today at this link. Or simply visit www.goodbirdinc.com

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Get your Flighted Parrot Back Home Safely

It has been a very busy few months and I have had a hard time getting to the blog. It has been in the back of my head for a long time that I would love to make sure more resources are out there for people with flighted parrots. Too many times I see postings on chat groups in regard to lost birds.

I have posted an article about what to do when a flighted parrot is lost here on this blog, but now it is also available on my website. Here is the link.

It has detailed information on what to do when a parrot flies off and how to retrieve it. Please feel free to share the link with other lists. I hope it will help people get their birds back.

Also I know how panicked people can be when they are searching for a beloved parrot. So I have also prepared some free "Lost Bird Flyers" I don't have all species represented yet, but if you have a nice picture of your bird you would like to share we can make one and post it for others to use.

The flyer is designed so that all you have to do is enter your contact info and details on where you last saw the bird. You can add other items too if you want. But the basic template is there for you.

I recommend downloading the flyer, adding details and printing some to keep on hand. That way if you do ever end up on a search for your bird, no time is wasted making flyers. They are ready to go. Here is the link for the flyers.

I hope you will find these useful. Please feel free to cross post.

Photo: Scarlet Macaw provided by Chris Biro.

Photo taken by Barbara Heidenriech

Barbara Heidenreich

http://www.goodbirdinc.com/

Parrot Podcast at

http://www.petliferadio.com/

Copyright 2008 Good Bird Inc

When a Flighted Parrot Escapes

My blue fronted Amazon parrot, Tarah, does not have clipped wings. However like many birds that were clipped during the fledging process, he has never quite learned the kind of flight skills that might earn him the title of a “flyer”. I often said “He’s has his flight feathers, but he doesn’t fly.” One day I learned, the hard way, that this wasn’t exactly true.

I was visiting my parrots as I was moving from southern California to northern California. When I arrived I brought Tarah in his cage to my old bedroom. I opened the door to the cage to allow my bird some much needed free time. Before I knew it, he bolted off his cage, through the bedroom door, took a right and made his way down the hall. He then banked left and flew through the living room. At that very moment my father was just opening the sliding glass door to step out onto the deck. Guess who went through the door too? The deck was on the second floor, so my bird had two stories of lift to assist him on his grand flight down the fairway of the golf course behind the house. Thank goodness he was a green flying brick. He ran out of gas and slowly descended to the soft green grass before a tree offered its branches as refuge. Juiced by adrenalin, my feet barely touched the ground as I ran after my bird.

I have always been very careful about the choices I make having a flighted bird in the house. But I was very surprised by the amazing flight my bird made on that day. Sometimes birds that we think will never fly do indeed fly. Sometimes birds that have flight feathers trimmed surprise us when feathers return. Sometimes experienced flyers get frightened or find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Whatever the situation, there are some strategies that can be very useful to recovering a bird that has flown to a location undesired by you. The following information is provided to prepare you for that day when your bird may find itself airborne and heading in the wrong direction. These strategies apply if you bird has no flight skills or is a world class flying athlete.

Bird is flying away

• Call to your bird loudly as he is flying- it may help him find his way back to you.
• As your bird is flying, do not take your eyes off of him. Note the last place you saw him, the level of his flight, how tired he looked. He may have landed in that area. (Radio or phone contact for a group of people searching can be very helpful in this situation. Grab your cell phone!)

Searching for your bird

• If you have a group of people, spread out and circle the area you last saw him.
• If you cannot locate him, call to him. He may call back. Say words or sounds he knows or mimics. Most parrots are located by their screams.
• If he has another bird he likes, put that bird in a cage and bring it to the area you last saw him. Walk away from the bird in the cage. It might encourage the bird in the cage to scream. This may inspire the lost bird to scream. Keep talking to a minimum so you can listen for the scream.
• Look carefully in a limited area (within 1 mile) in the early stages of your search. Parrots usually do not go far unless, blown by the wind, chased by a bird of prey or extremely frightened.
• Keep in mind your parrot may see you before you see him. When this happens, parrots are sometimes very quiet. This may be because the parrot is more comfortable now that you are present.
• Despite some parrots bright colors, they can be very difficult to see in trees. Look for movement buried in the trees as opposed to your whole bird perched prominently on the tree.

You have located the bird, but he is out of reach

• Once you find you bird, relax (unless the bird is in immediate danger.) It is better to let the bird sit where he is (if he is inaccessible) while you work out a strategy. Do not frantically try to grab the bird, hose or scare him down.
• If the bird has just landed. He will probably not fly again (if at all) for awhile.
• Bring the bird’s favorite person and/or favorite bird friend (in a cage) to the area where your bird is located.
• Bring favorite food items, familiar food bowls and the bird’s cage if possible.
• Be careful not to ask your bird to fly from a great height or a steep angle. Try to position yourself (or bird buddy, or bird cage) to allow short flights or short climbs to lower places.
• Try to lure your bird to fly or climb to branches/objects that are similar to those upon which he is sitting if possible. A bird may be too frightened to climb onto a distinctly different perch. (For example, the bird might be afraid to climb off of a tree onto a fence.) If you have no other option, expect the process to be slower and be patient with your bird as he builds his confidence. He may also fly again if he touches the new perch and is frightened by it.
• Do not raise unfamiliar objects up to your bird to have him step onto it. More than likely this will only scare your bird to fly farther away. If you have a familiar item, you may have a chance that the bird will step onto it. Keep in mind things like ladders, people climbing trees, cherry pickers etc. may also scare your bird. Go extremely slowly if you resort to using these items. Stop any action if your bird looks like he wants to fly away.
• Try to call your bird down when his body language indicates he is ready to try to come down. Do not constantly call.
• Try hiding from your bird on occasion. This will create a level of anxiety in your bird which may cause him to try to come to you once you reappear. Usually birds will scream and or start moving around a lot when they are ready to make an effort to return to you. If you notice this activity, come out from hiding.
• If you hear your bird screaming while you are hiding, he may be ready to fly or is already in the air. Come out of hiding right away. Most parrots scream when they are flying in this type of situation.
• Birds also often relieve themselves and also scream right before they fly. Be alert for this. You may need to see where your bird flys. Be ready to run if necessary.
• Avoid having a crowd of people around the bird’s favorite person. A scared bird may not want to fly into a crowd of strangers. Give the bird’s favorite person lots of room.

The sun is setting and your bird is still out.

• Parrots will usually fly again shortly before the sun starts to set. This is probably your last opportunity to get your bird back before he will begin to roost for the night. Take advantage of it. You can try to get the bird “pumped” up by yelling and creating a level of excitement. This may encourage one last flight.
• As the sun starts to set, your bird will start to fluff his feathers and get ready to roost for the night. At this point it is best to just allow him to go to sleep. Keep an eye on him until the sun has set completely. Remember his exact location.
• Before the sun rises the next day, return to that location. Your bird should still be there, unless he was frightened in the night (owls can cause this).
• Usually by 8:30 or 9:00 AM your bird will be ready to fly again or make an attempt to get to you. Repeat the steps described in the section “You have located your bird, but he is out of reach”.

Your bird has flown off and after 24 hours of searching he has not been spotted.

• Contact the following people and let them know you are looking for your bird. If a person finds your bird they may contact one of these organizations.
• Call animal control
• Call the SPCA/humane society
• Call local veterinarians
• Call local zoos
• Call local pet shops
• Call local police
• Place an ad in the classified section of the paper for a “lost” bird.
• Note: Don’t give out the bird’s band number. If your bird accidentally falls into the wrong hands this could lead to removal of the band.
• Check the classified section of the paper for “found” bird. Answer all ads. People are sometimes unaware of what they have found. A Congo African grey may be mistaken for the mythical red tailed pigeon by a helpful stranger who is unfamiliar with parrots.
• Post flyers that state “lost bird” in the areas you last saw your bird. You may also wish to offer a reward as incentive for people to call.
• Often times a bird is found within 24 hours of his disappearance. The trick is to find the person who found your bird before you.

Do not give up

The key to getting a bird back is perseverance. Do not accept that you will not get the bird back once you have lost sight of him or her. As a professional bird trainer that free flys many types of birds on a regular basis, I can attest that parrots are often the easiest type of bird to locate and recover. Trust me - nothing is more frustrating than searching for the silent, but observant owl who has buried himself in the bushes and has watched you walk by 100 times! Thankfully our parrots often seek out human or bird companionship if and when they have a big flight adventure.

Copyright 2005 © Good Bird Inc. First appeared in Good Bird Magazine Volume1 Issue1 Spring 2005. Cannot be reprinted without permission.

For more information on training visit www.goodbirdinc.com