Happy Endings~Tell us how you recovered your escaped bird~

[Bokkapooh]

I am just now checking in before I may not be on for a few more days.. luckily my laptop is wireless and I can be on for a bit

I am so sorry that Emma flew away Saemma!! I know you will find her

Sapphire was my first handraise house sparrow. I took her outside everyday from the time she was 3 weeks old ( just about to fledge) and continue to do so all throughout her first summer.

She was 100% recall trained. Then one day something happened that stopped me from taking her outside for the rest of her life. She flew on the chainlink fense and my little brother kicked a basketball at the fense, causing her to fly off 2 blocks away. I immediately ran after her as fast as I could, and kept making the noises she made and calling her name. About 10 minutes later, she flew back to me, proud and happy as can be.. she almost got hit by a car when she flew back to me. And I never took her outside again... I absolutely regret it... she loved the outdoors and I know not being out there was torment to her.. thats the only thing I regret about my early days of bird keeping...

Tiki, Quaker, has gotten outside 2xs. Twice last summer. He got away the first time, when I was at work, and was gone all day and the next morning I went outside around 5am to go look for him and he was in a tree, and as soon as he saw my little brother, he flew around us, and all around us and wouldnt land and 30 minutes later he landed on a low branch of an apple tree, and I got a ladder and stepped him up.

The 2nd time he escaped he was out all day in 90-100F weather, and it was late evening when we got him back.

Saemma, you WILL get Emma back!!!

 

[Emmilyy]

When i was younger, my little budgie Charlie got out the front door.
He was a very social and friendly little thing. We searched and searched, but couldn't find him after a few days. Then, someone from out community came to our door with him. He'd been hanging around their house and flew in when they opened the door

 

[Birdlover]

I havent lost one but a friend of mine almost did. His mom had taken his B&G Macaw outside to give it a shower. The bird was clipped but it had grown out a lot. Something spokked him and he took off. I got a frantic call about it and drove over there as fast as I could to help look. He was flying all over the neigborhood and it was a helpless feeling seeing how out of reach he was.

The sun was beginning to set and he took off. I saw where he went and apparantely was the only one that did because i took off after him and everyone else went in the opposite direction I saw him crash into a tree and drop into someones yard. I got there and there was a dog running toward him, bird on the ground but on his feet. I have never grabbed a bird so fast in my life. I started walking with bird in hand back to my friends house and saw the rest of the people. Happy ending because he was unharmed and made it back in the same night but it seemed so hopeless when he was loose.

 

[Juhi882]

Not exactly lost but my Mitthu once flew out the door it was 1st of january 2009
i was cleaning the cage and she managed to squeeze out and the front was open at the time, she flew right out. I immediately ran after her
she landed right outside the door, flew again and landed next to the boundary wall! I ran and scooped her up and got inside. once I put her in the cage I realized how scared I was and the rate my heart was beating I could have had a heart attack! It all happened in 5 mins but I can never EVER forget the feeling, my almost stopped
I was lucky it was Mitthu because she is not much of a flier she just loves to perch on our shoulders and play if it were Chhotu I don't think i would have found her she flies like a jet. even when she's out out I have a tuff time putting her back in the cage.
even though for 5 mins but it was a very scary experience.

 

[Cynthia & Percy]

Percy flew off from his previous owner when she caught up to him she used a pot and spoon to call him down he was used to coming for the sound of a pot stirring he just loved her scrambled egg

Baby landed on a mans shoulder on a golf course and was listed it the lost and found for a whole month before I got her her parronts never looked in the lost and found or had given up do not give up

 

[Blazeybird]

Ill never forget. My first fids, my introduction to the bird world, were two keets Blare and Sunshine. They were both flighted and I enjoyed letting them be so. They enjoyed flying around the house and I was content on letting them. One day Blare got out, ill never forget the heart dropping feeling as I watched my little buddy fly over houses and off beyond the horizon. I took Sunshine outside in her cage and we called and called him. After several hours it started to get dark and I grudgingly took Sunshine in for the evening. About an hour later our neighbors called (who also happened to be bird lovers, they had several birds of their own). Blare had apparently tried to get back to Sunshine, but missed by one house. I got him back

THEN a few years later we were babysitting some of my great nieces and they were running in and out, in and out. Well Blazey got spooked and out the door he went. Our backyard was a swamp with water and grass 6 feet tall, thats where Blazey disappeared to. I called to him and he responded, so I knew he was SOMEWHERE. I was completely frantic. He tried to fly back to me and landed in the same neighbors yard, where she happened to be and she got him (she must have thought I was the most careless avian lover ) . Ever since I have been upmost careful!

 

[Billie Faye]

I have had TWO fly off...
Back when we didn't know any better...Sammy, B&G, use to sit on my shoulder while I walked to the mail box down the hill and walk back up again...well, one day (windy) the wind caught him just right and lifted him right off my should about 3/4 of the way back up the hill...Watched are he "glided" on the wind and then started flying into the woods across the street ( yes it was a BEAUTIFUL sight to see him fly)! I had no shoes on at the time...saw him land at the top of one the the trees at the edge of the woods...ran up to the house to get my shoes on and then ran back down the hill and into the woods to find him...NO Sound coming from him....My daughter was bring the grandkids and I asked her to get me a saw....I found him about 15 mins later on the other side of the woods in a tree...I started sawing the tree down when the land owner wanted to know what I was doing! "Getting my bird back!"...I don't know how but Sammy "road" the tree down to the ground as it fell and I grabbed him!
Boggie, BRF, had his wings clipped and was on Poppa's shoulder out side when a friend came around the corner of the house and scared Boggie....he could still "low" fly but enough to get to a small tree and "fly/climb" to the top of a 20 ft tree...Poppa climbed the tree and bent the limb Boggie was one down enough to grab his feet and hold onto him and bring him down! He was lucky that Boggie didn't try flying from the limb as it was being lowered to a taller tree!!!!!

 

[Danita]

Do we have any more stories to add to this?
Joey's Mom needs a boost.

 

[Greycloud]

I don't have a story, but I can just picture BF sawing that tree down and her B&G riding t to the ground! What a great story!

 

[Saemma]

I will add Emma's story to this thread. There were many times where I felt very discouraged and hopeless. I'm so grateful that she was found and believe it is very important to try your darndest to not give up hope even though it is EXTREMELY difficult.

http://forums.avianavenue.com/highway-home/23098-emmas-return-home-story.html

 

[Kolkri]

I have only had two "escape" many many years ago (Birds from before throwing out my non stick pan, thats anouther story)

Both birds were clipped. The quaker (Draco RIP my sweet baby)went four houses down and landed on the ground. He was green, only reason I found him was cause we played the calling game.

The other one was my blue crown conure(Robin RIP little girl). She went two houses down and got enough lift under her wings to land in a tree. Hubby climbed up and grabbed her. He got a nasty bite and she had a bloody nose.

However have not had any "escape' since then well over 10 years ago. But not going to risk it.

 

[Skyler]

I haven't had one of mine lost (yet and I hope never), and recently I was unable to capture a loose budgie outside.

But to add to this wonderful thread:

On my old canary board a friend/member had a hen that had a high rate of cage escapes. Unfortunetly, this Houdini managed to get out just as her husband had removed the screen from a window. And out went the little canary. Like my Herbie this was a hand "tamed" hen and much loved. Needless to say , her "owner" was broken hearted, and spent the night sobbing on the sofa. (most people don't expect a teeny canary to survive at all outside). As her husband attempted to comfort her they heard a tapping on the window., opened it. lifted the screen and in flew the bird. "I swear she looked at me like why didn't you guys leave a window open---I was coming right back".




And there was an English gentleman who had lost his beloved budgie. After a few days he received a call from a woman saying, "this has to be the man that lost a budgie because I found the bird and he gave me this phone number and he did it in your voice" They all made the news that week.



I love happy endings. Great thread Danita.

 

[pineview01]

My B&G flew off on me once. He was clipper when I got him. Who knew you had to get them reclipped. I had him sitting on the railing while I was weeding a flowere bed. A gust of wind took him up in to a pine tree, not far, just about ten feet up. I used the pool broom to try to get him to step-up but it just scared him. He took of again and started down and I was afraid he was going into the pool. At the last minute a gust got him and he soared about 20-30 feet up into another tree. My husband tried to reach him by putting up a ladder and he just climed higher. We tried putting the ladder into the back of the pick-up. This just scared him and he flew off. He found another gust and rode it off in to the dusk. We tried to keep watching but lost sight. We went off calling for him in the direction we thought he went. I kept calling well after dark. My husband made me go in. He said we would have to wait until daylight. It was a cold MI night and I was afraid he would freeze to death.

The next morning I went to work. I worked on a poster. I called the animal shelter when the opened. When it was daylight I couldn't take it any more and left work to start looking again.

It was almost 24 hours later when I walked over to the house next door in the oppisite direction that we saw Sky fly off. I went to ask if I could look in their woods. The shoot alot and I wanted to make sure they knew he was lost. I also didn't want to get shot looking. As I walked up to there house I heard a faint hi and saw a spot of yellow. He was in a tree next to their house, they had outside birds. He was within about 500ft of my house.

I was lucky that I was having a pole barn built and there was a cherry picker in my back field. It took forever it seemed to me for them to drive it the 1/4 mile to get it to the tree. The whole time I kept calling to Sky and he kept looking at me like dummy why don't you get me.

I was given a crash course in how to use it so I was the person going up to get him. When I got close to him I kept saying step-up to him. As I moved forward he moved back and I thought he was going to fly off again. I grabed at him and he drove his beck into my thumb but I didn't let and neither did he the whole way back to the ground.

Sky doesn't go out side anymore. He does have his cage in front of the big windows.

 

[pineview01]

This is the story from the man I got my 25 year old wild caught YNA from when I asked about his two missing toes;

His toes. This is a scarey and amazing story.
It was mid-January many years ago, we were having a huge dinner, something spilled over in the oven and filled the basement with smoke. The smoke alarms were going off so I opened a couple windows in the basement to get the smoke out while I took care of the spill over. Buddy's cage was open.
I went upstairs to finish getting dinner ready before everybody showed up, when I came back down Buddy was gone. We searched everywhere, hung up fliers and searched for a couple days. It was very cold, temps in the teens, snow on the ground, I thought he froze to death. I think it was the third day, (wife's name) called me at work to tell me she just got a call from a neighbor asking if we still had the big green bird because they had one that just walked into their garage. I left work and went right over. As soon as he saw me he said "HI BUDDY....HOW YOU DOIN'. Frost bite on the 2 toes was the worst of his adventure. Thankfully.
He's a tough bird and never been sick a day in his life.
Not sure if he fled because he thought the house was on fire or the smoke alarms scared him.
I was much more careful with him after that.

 

[MaryB6368]

Our escapee was a newly fledged baby CAG named Sweetie.

I regularily took the babies I raised outside into a flight cage on our back deck in the summer.

This beautiful, sunny summer day I walked Sweetie the 5 feet from the door of our home to the flight cage without a harness because she had only made a few flights indoors and I though it would be safe (ha ha, not too smart). As I approached the flight the wind kicked up and Sweetie took flight.

I watched stunned and in awe of how beautiful the sight as she flew up into the blue sky with the lovely wooded backdrop of our forest. I was immobilized as I saw her disappear around the side of our home.

With the realization that the baby had just flown away, I jumped into action and ran through the house out the front door but she was no where to be seen. Frantic, I called all my neighbors to warn them to look for her and let them know she was a friendly baby. My kids, my husband and I walked up and down the street and into the surrounding woods calling to her with no luck.

After two hours I walked back home absolutely devastated that we could not find her. I sat on the front porch steps and called her name and suddenly I heard the familiar call of a baby CAG. At first it was from far away. As I called out to her, she would call back in return and she was getting closer. Eventually, she perched high up in an oak tree in the front. We called and tried to coax her down, but a newly fledged bird cannot control their flight.

She tried to fly to us, but she would sail over our house and perch in an oak tree in the back. This went on several times till it became dark.

She was out all night in the oak tree in the back ......I opened our bedroom window and talked to her all night long. She called back in response and it gave me some peace of mind.

As soon as it was light out I went outside and tried to coax her down by calling to her. She continued to fly over the house from the front oak tree to the back one. She seemed to want to come down but didn't know how or perhaps didn't have the confidence to come to the ground. Eventually I thought to put a harness on my 4 year old pet CAG Griffin and bring him out to try to coax her. I put the playstand in the yard and Griffin on the stand with his harness on and I sat next to the stand.

Sweetie started flying back and forth over us getting lower with each pass. Eventually, I stuck my hand out and called and she flew right to my hand. How lucky we were to get her back. NEVER NEVER bring a bird outside without a harness or cage!

 

[Sophie's Mama]

mine isnt my story but my ex's. he had a cockatiel who he tooked outside all the time and it never flew off. well one day he had left the front door open and out it went. he looked and looked but never could find him. there was some pretty bad storms for about a week with a lot of rain and wind and cold.about 3 weeks later i just happened to be on the phone with him ( i lived in oklahoma at the time he was in australia) and he said hold on there is a tapping on the door. he came back to the phone a few mins later all excited and i could tell he had been crying to. that little bird had come home and knocked on the door all by himself.he was soaking wet and starving and very ratty looking, but he came home all on his own.he was gone over 3 weeks in that cold weather and they lived right near the mountains so he figured he was gone for good.

That is a wonderful story! So glad there was a happy ending!

 

[daydreams356]

My first bird was a cockatiel named Fancy. He was fully clipped and was entirely a Velcro bird, always wanting to be touching me or on my shoulder. I was at my boyfriend's house with him and went outside to get something from my car, cupping my hands over his wings just in case. Well, I tripped and he flew off very easily. It turns out a bit of his wings had grown in and I hadn't noticed. I saw him flying over the house and into a tree. I ran after him and he paused and stopped a few times before gliding into a field and out of my sight. I searched hours and hours for him until everyone else had given up hope. It became dark and I was forced to leave him. Behind the field was 50+ acres of dense woods and I knew if he had flown into that area he was gone for good. The next morning I searched a bit into the woods, calling his name and whistling for him. I heard crows screeching but nothing else. I went inside for a bit to cool off and I was convinced I'd never see him again. I had broke down and was just devastated. My boyfriend told me he'd go out one more time and this time we went about a quarter of a mile into the woods. I called and called and finally heard the most wonderful sound in the world, my baby's voice crying for me. I followed his call and actually almost stepped on him. He was on the ground covered in dirt and blood, shaking and terrified. He had cuts all over his body. He crawled right into my arms and cuddled himself as close as he could. We assume he had been attacked by crows as the ones we heard were in the exact area. He ended up recovering completely and was never let outside without a harness again!

 

[southernbirds]

What a miracle.

 

[birdlvr466]

My first bird was a cockatiel named Fancy. He was fully clipped and was entirely a Velcro bird, always wanting to be touching me or on my shoulder. I was at my boyfriend's house with him and went outside to get something from my car, cupping my hands over his wings just in case. Well, I tripped and he flew off very easily. It turns out a bit of his wings had grown in and I hadn't noticed. I saw him flying over the house and into a tree. I ran after him and he paused and stopped a few times before gliding into a field and out of my sight. I searched hours and hours for him until everyone else had given up hope. It became dark and I was forced to leave him. Behind the field was 50+ acres of dense woods and I knew if he had flown into that area he was gone for good. The next morning I searched a bit into the woods, calling his name and whistling for him. I heard crows screeching but nothing else. I went inside for a bit to cool off and I was convinced I'd never see him again. I had broke down and was just devastated. My boyfriend told me he'd go out one more time and this time we went about a quarter of a mile into the woods. I called and called and finally heard the most wonderful sound in the world, my baby's voice crying for me. I followed his call and actually almost stepped on him. He was on the ground covered in dirt and blood, shaking and terrified. He had cuts all over his body. He crawled right into my arms and cuddled himself as close as he could. We assume he had been attacked by crows as the ones we heard were in the exact area. He ended up recovering completely and was never let outside without a harness again!

Wow Erica that is quite a story. Thank you for sharing it and reminding people it doesnt matter if your birds wings are clipped, they can still fly.

 

[unicornlady7]

I've only had an escaped bird once and it tore me to peices! Loki, my 7month old male dilute blue parrotlet flew away.. He loves my son (7yrs old) and would cling to his shoulder through all his antics - he seems to enjoy it! I kept telling the kids that there shall be no opening of doors AT ALL unless the birds are in their cages. Accidents happen and even a clipped bird can fly with the right conditions. Well, my son's friend came over and with out even thinking, my son goes outside to talk to him. Next thing I hear is my 7 and 8 yr-olds frantic that Loki flew away! I was beside myself!! They tell me he flew straight then turned...I live in a moblie home park by the woods. A few days prior I had witnessed a Merlin faclon catch an adult robin - so of course THAT'S going through my head! Not to mention all the ferral cats around here!
I called my Best Friend(also a bird lover) who was visiting from Texas to help me. We searched for about 20 minutes or so with no luck. Then she started questioning me "How far do you think he could make it? Would he go to ground or head for a tree? What does he sound like?" Well, he was good at going from one side of the house to the other, but as far as stamina - I didn't think he had much.. I figured he would go WITH the wind, not against it. So She followed the wind from my deck to 5 houses down and across the street and tried to isten for finch or cardinal-like sounds. She found my little fluff right next to the skirting of an older home(white)!!! He looked nervous, but she crouched down, called him and stuck her hand out - he hopped right up!! I think it was an "OH, THANK GOD! IT'S A HUMAN!!!"
I am SO thankful my friend was here and clear-headed, cuz i was a wreck and couldn't barely think straight!