Bye Bye Birdie!

by Carol Frank

Avian Adventures was the name of a bird cage company I owned from 1996 to 2007.  I loved the name as I felt it depicted a certain type of excitement that is befit a parrot.  (I sold the company in 2007 to Midwest Homes for Pets, and they have since renamed it Avian Adventures by Midwest).

Just a few weeks ago, I experienced a different kind of Avian Adventure.  My beloved African Grey, Lola, literally flew the coop.  I had let her wings grow out because a local bird trainer urged me to….she said it would be better for her psyche.  I enjoyed watching her fly around my house and from her cage to my arm, and was careful around open doors and windows.

I have a giant aviary in my backyard where Lola and Murphy (Eclectus) reside during most summer days.  On a gorgeous Thursday morning, all seemed well until Murphy started acting like a toot.  I was fixing something in the cage and he came over and chomped down on my finger, something he virtually never does….but he does NOT like to have his cage messed with!  I opened the door to take him out for a little  “talking to”, and Lola shot out of the cage.  She flew over my back fence and across the street before I could make it out of the yard to see where she went.  She was gone in a flash.

Lola is a sensitive little girl.  She could tell I was upset, and she didn’t want to be around for Murphy’s scolding.

I thought for sure I would spot her quickly and bring her home.  Minutes turned into hours; hours turned into days as I spent my days posting online ads, printing flyers, making phone calls,  and riding my bike around in circles, calling her name over and over again.  It’s a horrible feeling to not know where your feathered (or furry) child is.  And with a parrot, you just really never know what in the world they are thinking or doing.  She could have gone ANYWHERE.  Plus, since she is gray, she didn’t exactly stand out amongst all of the foliage.  One of the few redeeming things about the situation is that our Boulder CO nights were warm, so I knew she at least wouldn’t be cold.

Angels appeared out of nowhere.  I posted an ad on Craigslist and I got a reply from a volunteer for parrotalert.com.  I posted an ad in the online version of our local paper, and got an e-mail from Retta, a volunteer with 911parrotalert.com.  They monitor online posts for lost parrots and reach out to people when they see a new post.  By this time Lola had been gone for 3 days and two nights.  I had done everything I could think of short of starting a Facebook page, which was going to be my next step.  Then I read a paragraph in the volunteer’s newsletter that changed everything.

“Don’t give up, birds are often found after several weeks, even
months. I believe the number one thing an owner can do to get their
bird back is to post flyers in the neighborhood. So post as many
as you can including pet shops, vets, grocery stores, post offices,
police and fire stations, schools, nearby apartment buildings,
animal shelters, etc. Even put one in your car window. The more
people who know about your missing bird the better your chances
of getting it back.”

Sunday morning my boyfriend and I got up very early, got out on our bikes, and started posting….three hours later we had put up 70 flyers on Boulders busiest street corners and retail stores.

After a quick lunch break, we were back at it.  Riding down Broadway Avenue, my phone rang.  Excited to see a phone # I didn’t recognize, I heard a voice utter words that I will never forget “I saw your flyer and I have your bird.  She is safe and sound in a cage in my home.”

Lola’s Avian Adventure had taken her nearly 3 miles into the backyard of a University of Colorado student who just so happened to have had parrots during his childhood.  What are the chances??? I don’t necessarily think he was planning to look very hard for Lola’s owner; he had captured her the day before and had already gone to the pet store to buy toys!  But he and his roommates had seen my flyer earlier in the day and that compelled him to call me.  It was probably the line “Beloved Family Pet” that made him pick up the phone.  I mean, who would keep someone’s bird after seeing that?

I rushed over to pick her up, nervous the whole time that this was some kind of cruel hoax.  She perked up when she saw me walk in, and proceeded to give me the biggest cuddles and kisses ever.  I am so beyond grateful and happy to have my baby girl home.  As much as I would love to see her fly around the house again, I just can’t take the chance ever again that she will fly out of my yard and possibly out of my life forever.  The wings are staying clipped.