Dear Parrots magazine,
Claiming a found bird
I wanted to make your readers aware of what mistakes are so easily made following finding a lost bird. It was when I went to hang out some washing in my back garden that I spotted an Amazon parrot sitting on my fence. I have a conure so am familiar with parrots, but this startled me somewhat.
I have read so many sad stories of escaped parrots and how difficult it is to find their owners. This Amazon was quite steady and when I approached it, it did not flitch at all, so I assumed it was a tame pet bird that someone has lost. I have a few spare cages so put this bird into one and took it into my house.
I then sent out messages on social media and alerted the police and two vets that are near to me. It wasn’t very long before I had some response from people claiming it was their bird. Thinking about it, I was silly to put a good description of it in the messages I put out. Following several calls claiming this Amazon was theirs, I became suspicious when one man was very pushy to come and collect it. I asked a few questions and didn’t really get the right answers so fobbed him off.
However, it was when a lady called me to say she had lost her Amazon and lived in the next street. She did seem very honest and described this bird very accurately. As a result, I asked her to come round and see it. She was very nice and told me its name was Olly and started to talk to it. It wasn’t long before the bird said, ”Olly” quite clearly. Shortly after arriving, she asked if her teenage daughter could come round, which I agreed to, and straight away she called to the bird and it said its name again. I was satisfied that this was the right owner. Since this time, our families have become friends so it proved to be the right decision. I did tell her to have the bird microchipped, which she did the very next day.
I just want to warn people if they happen to find an escaped parrot, be very careful not to give too much detail away and be wary of dishonest claimants.
Delia Lamb, by email