My senegal flew away and re capactured

[Di Wu]

I join this group a year ago and got a lot of useful information form people here.
Now, I want to share an adventure story of my Senegal,Rico.
She(or he) is about one years old, very tame , bonding with me well. She get out her cage 2 hours a day and fly inside my living room. Now, it is summer, so she spend most of her daytime in my backyard enjoying the sun and fresh air. I do recall training but she only come to me when she really will or she is hungry. She is quite, but sometimes, she make contact call with me and specially with my 7 year old son. he can mimic her call very well. ( This turn out to be critical when we try to located her later when she flew away.)
OK, at Monday evening around 8:00. I was on my way back from a small vegetable garden, my wife run to me and cry. "our bird is fly away!". She was totally in panic.Later, I was told when she try to move the cage inside house, the bottom of the cage fall apart and our parrot flew away. My son was also crying and calling for his loved bird. I asked them to go home and start to search immediately. Senegal is such a quite bird and so good camouflaged.If she doesn't call and sit in a tree, it is almost impossible to find her. I searched the neighborhood tree by tree and keep calling. Suddenly, I heard something, she was calling back. after 5 mins, I am sure she is close to me, she must be in the trees, but I just can't see her. Then, suddenly, I saw her flew cross the air to the worse direction . There are many water and big trees, if she land there, It is impossible to reach her.
Anyway, I run after her, but lost sight quickly. Then a neighbor told me he saw a green bird flew back and forth three times and finally head to the wildness. That moment, I feel I lost her forever. I can't cross all these water without a boat. I went to home, wife and kid were not here, and my phone ringed, my wife called "come, we find Rico (our parrot), I am sure she is in a tree). I run to the location as fast as I can. Then I saw a small group of people standing around a 10~15 m high tree along a small river, my son was calling on other side of the water, and I heard my bird !!!
I was so exciting, I know, if I can find her, I got a big chance to get her again. Even I know she is there, it took me at least 5 mins to actually see her. Yes, she was there, playing. And most important, she saw me too, she was relax, eating leafs. walking along the branch. I know she did want to leave us neither, we are flock, we are family.
Ok, next step, how to get her down. We brought her favored food , toy and her cage, but she just didn't come to us. She is afraid of the height, she never fly down from such a height. I climb on the top of my car to get a little bit close to her, but this didn't help. Then one guy said. "I can climb th e tree, but I am afraid the bird will fly away"I asked "do you have a ladder?"He said"yes, long enough to reach the main branch of this tree"'. I said"bring it to me, i'll climb the tree and get her, if I can get close, she will come to me."so I climb the tree with a almond in my mouth. Rico looked down as we put the ladder against the tree, I believe this is the most dangerous moment because she never saw a ladder before, this can scare her away. Lucky, she was only watching. So When I reached the main branch of the tree, Rico actually walked down to me and I keep climbing. Finally, she reached me, took the almond from my hand. I immediately pick her with two hands, then hold her in one hand (she used to this when we play at home), and climb down with another free hand. some women start to scream. I am 46 but extremely fit for my age. This was one of the most happy moment in my life when I touched the ground with my Rico in my hand.
My son, he did the amazing job to re capture our bird. He never give up. He keep calling when everyone give up. Rico respond to his call better than mine. and it is him to find Rico sit in that tree. I am really proud of him. (he is only 7)
So never give up. keep calling and listening. you may get your fried back again. Your bird want to be with you. When she fly away, she just get loss and couldn't find a way home. It is our job to bring our friend back.
(sorry, my English is not very good, I live in Netherland)

[liz]

Your English is just fine.
Your bird recovery is wonderful. Thank you for posting so others can read of the adventure and know they can do it too.

[Wolf]

I too am proud of your son for all of his efforts in getting your friend back. You are very lucky that he stayed as close as he did. Yes, he wants to be with you, but he got scared and couldn't find his way back, I am so happy that he is now at home and safe. Thank you for sharing the story of Rico's adventure and happy ending.

[Pajarita]

Ditto, it's always great to hear a story with a happy ending but this is not the norm and, if I were you, I would stop taking the bird outside without a harness because it will be going into puberty soon and, once those sexual hormones are flowing, it won't come back.

[Wolf]

I may have misunderstood, but it sounded like the bird is only out of the cage inside the house and the bottom of the cage fell off which allowed the bird to fly away outside while they were bring it into the house in its cage.

[Pajarita]

I was going by this: "Now, it is summer, so she spend most of her daytime in my backyard enjoying the sun and fresh air. I do recall training but she only come to me when she really will or she is hungry." which I understood to mean that they take her outside and do recall with her... but I could have misunderstood.

[Di Wu]

I was going by this: "Now, it is summer, so she spend most of her daytime in my backyard enjoying the sun and fresh air. I do recall training but she only come to me when she really will or she is hungry." which I understood to mean that they take her outside and do recall with her... but I could have misunderstood.

Sorry, Pajarita, I misleading you.Rico always sit outside in her cage. and I do recall training always indoor. She went out by the accident, the bottom of the cage fall apart. (I reinforced it already).

I did do outdoor recall training with my lovebird some years ago. But not anymore after I realized birds can fly away and never come back. I didn't lost my lovebird in this way. But have two other birds flew away when some one open the door accidentally.Both of them were tame but not bond to me.

I was extremely lucky to get Rico back.

First, she stay in the neighborhood, and this is a new neighborhood, trees are not huge, trees in the old neighborhood can be very tall, there is no way I can find her , and it is impossible to climb.
Then, she like people, she always play with visitors indoor, so she was not scared away by strangers.
She is familiar with outside world.so she was not really panic and she stay in this area.
Finally, she has a close bond with my son and my self.

[Pajarita]

Ahhh, thank you for clarifying it. I was worried thinking you were relying on her bond and training and taking her outside without a harness.