British parrot missing for four years returns speaking Spanish

A pet parrot that spoke with a British accent when it disappeared from its home four years ago has been reunited with its owner – and the bird now speaks Spanish.

The reunion was brought about by a Southern California vet who mistook Nigel, an African grey parrot, for her own missing bird.

Teresa Micco tracked Nigel’s microchip to Darren Chick, a Briton who lives in Torrance.

“I introduced myself and said, ‘Have you lost a bird?'” Micco told the newspaper. “He initially said, ‘No.’ But he thought I meant recently.”

When she verified Chick’s name and said she had his African grey parrot, “He looked at me like I was crazy.”

He said his bird went missing four years earlier.

Little is known about Nigel’s whereabouts the past four years, but Chick says the bird’s British accent is gone, and it now chatters in Spanish.

Chick says last week’s reunion brought tears of joy to his eyes – despite the fact that Nigel bit him when he first tried to pick him up.

Micco said the behavior was not unusual and that Nigel would settle back in soon enough.

“He’s doing perfect,” Chick told the newspaper by the week’s end. “It’s really weird. I knew it was him from the minute I saw him.”

It’s the fifth parrot reunion facilitated by Micco, who has been running ads for her own missing bird for nine months. That parrot, Benjamin, flew the coop in February when it darted out a door that was left open.

Julissa Sperling found Nigel outside her home and brought him to Micco after seeing one of her ads.

But first, she took Nigel to her dog-grooming business.

“He was the happiest bird. He was singing and talking without control,” Sperling said. “He was barking like the dogs. I’m from Panama and he was saying, ‘What happened?’ in Spanish.”

Back in April, a crime-fighting parrot has saved his owner after she was pushed to the ground in a park. The female victim had been taking Wunsy the African grey for a walk and fly in Sunny Hill Park, north London, on Friday when she was grabbed by the shoulders and shoved.

The parrot, who is taken to the park daily in a harness and lead, flapped his wings and squawked, causing the attacker to flee.

source: The Telegraph

Have you been thinking of buying a parrot? Read these warnings first.

For those of you that enjoy this video and hope to get a parrot, I caution you that besides the cute talking, Clover spends 6+ hours a day clicking, honking, whistling, car alarms, shrieking, clucking, and begging for junk food, more nuts, more fruit, more showers, etc. Parrots are messy, poopy, destructive, bitey and throw sticky food everywhere. Because of Clover, I spent over an hour a day vacuuming and doing other cleaning. Parrots like African Greys create up to a tablespoon of “dust” in their feathers every day. Despite my perpetual cleaning, dust from Clover’s feathers got into my 1-year-old laptop and destroyed it. Parrots need almost non-stop interaction and care during the day. Parrots the size of Clover also need about $500-1000 in toys and “gear” every year just to keep them occupied for a few minutes of the day. Don’t get one if you do not have almost limitless money. Besides the purchase price (medium-large parrots are typically over $1000 in the U.S.) and a large cage ($500-$2000), parrots are extremely expensive to maintain. They need an endless supply of new toys…organic food…fresh food supplements… large cage… play stands… $300 typical annual vet appointment (if there is nothing wrong), etc. If your dream is to have a 3 year old, biting, screaming, destructive child in the room with you for the next 35 years, by all means get a parrot. But please adopt it from rescue. Some estimates show that 1 MILLION parrots are currently in rescues in the USA awaiting homes. These were all birds that people got as babies thinking they would raise it “their way” and it would be great. Note that it was not, and they ended up giving it away. Adult rescue parrots are often easier to train than babies and more grateful to adopters too.

P.S. I got Clover while living in Istanbul and had her from 2008-2012. I filled out tons of applications to bring her back to the U.S. when I returned home, but one permit was denied. In the end, she stayed behind in Istanbul with a wonderful young couple who also have another female African Grey. She has continued her life of free-flying indoors, and being out of her cage most of the day with owners who work at home.