Charlie, my mum's Cockatiel has got out not once, but twice! one of the times, two of them got out and we didn't get one of them back, but we got Charlie back both times.
Charlie & Jasper got out!
I was changing the bottom of the girls cage and there was Charlie right next to me.. and Jasper was sitting on top of the cage - it all happened so fast, I had two 'tiels to catch and as soon as I went to get Charlie, he went, and off Jasper went with him. (I looked at the boys cage and one of the little doors was wide open)
Jasper went one way (somewhere in the thousand acre bush) and I could hear Charlie close by.. in a tree so I ran and seen him in a tree and as soon as my brother climbed the tree off he went right back into the bush, same direction as Jasper.
I had put one of my other Cockatiels, Emmit, outside in a cage, but it was getting really dark and cold, so I couldn't leave him out for very long.. I was calling them and calling them, I couldn't hear them though. Later on when it was pitch dark, I brought Emmit back inside and I can remember just sitting in my room and crying and crying, I couldn't eat or anything! I started making poster and such to put up the next day, and I got some numbers to ring from the phone book. The next day I put all my birds outside again in hopes that they would still be around and come back, but still nothing.. I started putting up poster, put fliers in letter boxes, rang around and put ads up on websites. It had been two days now, and I had heard nothing, or seen either Jasper or Charlie, I was so sick to my stomach, all I could think about is if they were okay and safe, or if someone had them. Still two days since they had been gone, I was walking around my town for ages looking and calling for him, when I came home late in the afternoon my mum said she was sitting outside and heard chirping, I said it's probably just another bird, I sat outside but couldn't hear anything. I emailed heaps of people later that night that I know asking if there's anything else I could do, but there was nothing they could think of. Again, I started crying, crying enough to make myself be sick and throw up. I got not even 10 hours sleep within the two days that they had been missing, I couldn't stop thinking about them, it was like my heart was ripped out and stomped on, it hurt so much.
Day three, while I was outside and heard chirping coming from a distance, I called and called and I looked around the trees and I spotted Charlie sitting in a tree in my backyard right in front of me. He looked so worn out, but I was so happy that he had actually stuck around and knew where his home was. It took awhile to get him because he kept flying off, but he eventually came down and landed on one of the Cockatiels cages and recovered fully within 2 days.
I also thought he would've went a bit "wild" but he didn't when I went to get him he actually couldn't step up because he was so worn out, but let me cup him in my hands, he had no energy and probably hadn't eaten or drinken within the three days he was gone. He was still tame as ever even when I went to grab him and when he had recovered.
Charlie's gone AGAIN!
I had put all the birds outside and made sure they have fresh food and water and I've been checking on them every now and again. How'd he get out this time? well, there's a little door thing you lift up to get the slide out tray and it doesn't close properly and he must have pushed it open and he got out. He was close by in the trees in our backyard and then he flew off into a tree across the road and then a stupid moterbike came flying past and scared the crap out of him and he flew off down the road somewhere. I went looking for him but no sign, I had seed, I was calling and calling him. (so were my 2 little brothers) All the birds are outside at the moment, they were calling him before he flew off.. we just hope second time lucky he would come back but we aren't sure if he would this time.
An hour or so later, I seen him in the block of land next door being chased by minor birds, I was screaming at them to leave him alone. He sat over there for hours upon hours, I lured (sp) him to come back over by calling him and taking a few steps each time and made sure he could see me, but would he budge? NO. I got one of my other Cockatiels, put him in a travel cage and walked over there, he still wouldn't come, all they done was scream back and forth. So I sat about 15 feet away and waited to see if he'd come when one of the birds was flock calling, but he still wouldn't come down. Fast forward a few hours, he came over and was circling the house, he eventually got to the backyard and needed a rest, landing in a tree in my backyard, so I put one of the Cockatiels cages up near the cage and horrah he flew down, he stepped up and I put him in the cage and took them inside. He was only gone for no more than a day though.