My birds, Emme and Mango went on an unplanned adventure last week. An adventure that could have had very different results, and thankfully did not.
My friend Doug came over to help me move some furniture Monday morning. Mango, the Senegal Parrot, and Emme, the Indian Ring Necked Parrot, both love Doug. Mango belonged to Doug before she came to live with me. Doug is also the person who cares for my birds when I go out of town. Emme and Mango were both out of their cages as usual in the morning. I said to myself, "I'll leave the birds out so they can visit with Doug but then I'll put them back in their cages when we start moving furniture around."
Doug came in and they both flew to him immediately. Mango cooing and Emme asking the usual question "Hey Baby, What are you doing?"
Doug and I went on with our business of getting things moved. We propped open the front door because we had a bed to bring in from the truck. Then we found ourselves out in the backyard getting a piece of plywood. Next thing we know Mango and Emme fly passed us and are both sitting in the large Elm tree out back, Emme asking us his favorite question! This is when I panicked! Neither of them have ever been outside free to fly around. I couldn't find any calm...terrible images were passing through my mind: There are many dogs in the surrounding yards and Mango has great climbing skills, repeating "Up, Up, Up" as she climbs. But her flying skills are more like that of a helicopter. Short distances and losing momentum as she lands. And Emme can fly gracefully and for great distances which means he could fly so far away too quickly... My mind was racing- there were large crows nearby and cats and it's fall. They would never survive the night in the cold temperatures. We had to get them back NOW! I went and got the ladder but as Doug was setting it up it startled Mango and she took off. Flying like I've never seen her fly before! All the way across the street and onto the neighbors roof. Doug followed her and I stayed with Emme. I was terrified we would loose sight of them and that would be that.
In sheer panic, I called Alex. I didn't want to bother him at work, or deliver this news to him. But this was an emergency and he is by far the most resourceful person I know. He is fantastic at problem solving and I clearly had a BIG problem in front of me. I was frantic: "Emme and Mango flew out the door!"
"Oh no, Ok, calm down, don't panic, stay calm." He found this website
What to do if your bird flies away and started reading me the list: stay calm, make flyer's to distribute, move the cage outside...
So he got busy helping from where he was by putting a post on Craig's List. I moved the cages outside, got a bell of theirs to ring and walked around saying all their familiar phrases and whistling their favorite whistle's. At this point Mango flew from the roof she was on and Emme flew out of the tree and I could not see or hear either of them. Ugh! Doug and I were circling the neighborhood when I heard Mango screeching. I determined she was somewhere in a fenced in back yard. I located a gate and let myself in, all the while thinking, I'm trespassing while no one is home! A medium sized happy dog ran up to greet me. Usually seeing a wagging tail and happy smile would bring me delight. Today however I was thinking dog and domesticated bird don't mix well. I gently pushed the dog back into it's house through the dog door and blocked the dog door entrance with a bench. At this point Mango's screeching changed to her familiar "Hello...Hello......Hello". She could see me and was trying to let me know where she was! And there she was, in the tree on a branch above me. But still too high for me to reach her. Doug brought the ladder and climbed up it. She happily jumped on his finger and began to coo. She was safe! We put her in her cage which was on the deck. We were hoping Emme would hear or see her and come back. But we had no idea where he had flown to. The website said birds usually stay within 3-5 miles. This seems like a large distance for a bird who has only flown from the kitchen into the bedroom at the house.
But suddenly we heard him screeching, several blocks away. I got my little bell and off I went to locate him. Luckily birds are very communicative and I would call and he would answer. A man was approaching me on the street while walking his dog. I told him my bird had flown out of my house. He replied "Oh, a green bird in a tree just asked me what I was doing." I was thrilled! "That's my bird, where is he?" Emme was about 50' up in a tree and unsure how to get to me. In my panicked state I was thinking Cherry Picker...but Doug began to throw sticks in his direction to scare him down. Suddenly he flew down and navigated himself down the street perfectly and landed right in the tree in our yard where Mango was now screeching!
The fear I had been experiencing all morning changed to hope! The website stated that if you could get one bird back the other(s) would usually follow. It took a half hour to get Emme down form the high branches. I tried everything-got his favorite foods, toys, water glass. And nothing. He would just ask me over and over "What are you doing?" In my now frustrated state I actually replied "Trying to get you home, that's what I'm doing!" It finally clicked how I could get him down. He LOVES Mango, but is terribly jealous of her. I diverted all my attention from him to her. Loving her, kissing her, scratching her neck. He couldn't stand watching me do so and sure enough he flew down onto his cage within minutes.
