Posted by The Beak Blog on 6/18/2019 to
First Aid & Parrot Safety
1. STAY CALM, confident and positive that you will recover the bird. People tend to give up too easily and way too soon.
If you can't hear or locate the bird:
2. FINDING THE LOST BIRD. Time is of the essence!. As long as you know where the bird is, you can get it down with time - in most cases with enough time it will come down on its own, so long as you can keep track of it long enough.
Listen and listen some more - if the bird is up in a tree or out of sight, chances are that you won't be able to see it. But, if the bird vocalizes, you will be able to find its location by listening. It will almost always make noises that can be heard, giving direction to look in. Taking another bird out to the area may also help, especially if the other bird is a noisy friend of the lost bird or a mate or cage partner.If you can't hear or locate the bird:
- Make and distribute flyers in the neighborhood. Include a picture! (Local convenience stores, post office, pet stores, vets)
- Remember to include the date/time your bird was lost, birds name, closest intersection, photo and DO NOT INCLUDE LEG BAND NUMBERS
Post on all of the Social Media accounts below
Notify your local Humane Society or Animal Control
3. HELPFUL TIPS TO RECOVERING THE BIRD:
- Chances are that the bird wants to get to you but is too frightened or doesn't know how. Often, the key is getting the bird motivated to get to you on its own. This can take a while. A long while. Continue calling calmly and soothingly to the bird.
- DO NOT use a ladder or cherry picker/bucket truck or long sticks. Keep anyone and anything strange away from you that he might be afraid of. These will only frighten the bird away.
- DO NOT take the popular advice to attempt to spray the bird with a hose. This too will frighten the bird, and a wet bird can still fly.
- Morning and late afternoon/evening are the most likely times that the bird will come to you. It will rest in the afternoons and go to roost at night. If it is nighttime, do not waste your time trying to get the bird to come down. This time is better spent either resting up for the next day or working on flyers and other contacts.
If the bird is in a tree that you can climb, make sure the person climbing is someone the bird is comfortable with. Bring a favorite treat with you.
If you can reach the bird, calmly secure it and stuff it under your shirt so it can't get frightened and fly away again.
- Put a familiar cage and food outside where it can be seen by the bird.
- If you have a second bird that the lost bird will recognize the calls from, put the second bird outside where the bird can hear it.
- If the bird has been out for a while pack a picnic and eat right under the tree where the bird is. Make sure it's something decadent and tempting such as French fries. Make a big deal about how delicious it is.
- Jealousy (a Significant Other giving the bird's #1 person attention, or another rival bird or pet getting attention from said #1) can work to lure the bird down.
- With time and patience, the bird will calm down and relax and become much more easily recovered. Signs of such change of state include preening, playing with leaves/branches, aborted attempts to fly down, etc.
- It may take days for the bird to become motivated enough to come down to you. Don't give up!!