Pet parrot found by neighbour in Summerside after being missing 1 day

P.E.I. resident Brian Hill says the pet parrot that belongs to him and Sandy MacKenzie was found Tuesday night after it escaped from their home in Summerside.

In a Facebook message to CBC Tuesday evening, Hill said Kasco was back home alive and well.

"A lady next door heard a bird talking in the woods," Hill wrote. 

When Kasco went missing Monday evening, the family thought something might have spooked the four-year-old African grey Congo parrot as he sat outside with the family on Murphy Street.

"We just take him on the patio and he just sits on the ledge and talks to us," MacKenzie said. "We probably have him out for half an hour then we take him back in, because the sun is really good for them — they need the sunlight."

Kasco has a cage on the patio but he wasn't in it Monday evening. 

"All of a sudden he just took off flying. He wasn't going that high, because I was right behind him trying to catch him, and then all of a sudden he was out of sight," MacKenzie said.

Family, friends and neighbours helped comb the area within about a kilometre around their home, MacKenzie said, with no luck. 

Parrot can speak and whistle

Kasco is very vocal and can say his name very clearly, she added.

"He can say 'I want a glass of water,' he can say 'How are you?'" she said, as well as "hello," "bye bye," "see you later," and "Gloria." (Gloria is Sandy's mother's name.)

Kasco can also whistle music including the theme to The Pink Panther and The Addams Family. 

The family had Kasco's wings clipped two months ago to prevent this very thing, MacKenzie explained.

"That way if they do happen to go, they don't go that far. They're not supposed to be able to soar." 

'Like losing a kid'

Kasco can move freely inside the house too, she said, and his cage door is always open. 

The whole family is very attached to the bird and losing him was like "losing a kid," said MacKenzie.

She roamed the area playing songs on her cellphone that he enjoys, especially the Guns N' Roses song Patience.

"We've had him for two years," she said. "He is actually quite a card sometimes … I've never seen such an intelligent bird in my life." 

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