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Nigel the parrot has said “cheerio” to his British-born owner and “Buenos días” to another family.
The African grey parrot spoke with a British accent when it disappeared from a southern California home four years ago. But Nigel spoke Spanish when he was found and returned to Darren Chick of Torrance last week.
Someone found the bird and turned it over to a vet who found Chick by accessing the bird’s microchip.
Chick, who is British, said he wept tears of joy. But on Wednesday, he gave Nigel to the Torrance family who had kept the bird for the four years he was missing.
The Torrance Daily Breeze said that a family member emailed the paper after hearing about Nigel’s return and said they were heartbroken after the bird flew away from their home earlier this month.
Liza Smith said her grandparents bought the parrot they call Morgan – after the rum that features a parrot on the label – at a garage sale for $400. It learned Spanish from her Guatemalan-born grandfather.
“Loro macho, Loro macho” Rubén Hernández, 86, cooed to his feathered friend on Wednesday at the home of the Redondo Beach veterinarian who found Nigel.
“We’re just over the moon,” Smith told the newspaper.
Smith said the bird had become a special friend to her grandfather, especially in the two years since he lost his wife, who used to whistle tunes to the bird.
The parrot “is one of the last mementoes for my grandpa,” she wrote in her email to the Daily Breeze. “Morgan’s loss has been hard on him. They have a very special bond.”
Morgan also knows the first bars of the theme from the movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, knows the names of the family’s three dogs, barks like them, and likes to imitate the beeping sounds made by an early-morning trash truck, Smith said.
AriPhoenix111 on March 23rd, 2020 at 18:25 UTC »
Haha, this reminds me of a similar story that happened in my family a long time ago. My cousin's cat went missing from their place in Los Angeles years ago. Just up and disappeared one day, and the whole family assumed a coyote had snatched the cat for lunch.
A year later, an older woman calls the house, aunt answers, and the woman says something along the line of "Hey, I think I have your cat". Well my aunt is like ?? ok, what does the cat look like, how long have you had the cat, where did you get it from, etc. Older lady says she found a chip in the cat at the Vet, and that they are in Paris, France, but will be flying into California for a few days and will come by.
Long story short, rich older lady saw a cat on the side of the road in San Diego (no one knows how the cat got there), picked it up, took it with her to France for 6 months, cat got a little sick, found the chip in it at the vet, and brought it back to CA to be reunited with its family.
The little fat cat is still alive and well in Los Angeles.
MrBleah on March 23rd, 2020 at 16:02 UTC »
They are pretty amazing imitators.
A friend's girlfriend had one and I was sitting in the living room of their house and the phone rang and I heard the girlfriend say, "Hello?" but the phone kept ringing. I was very confused until I realized the bird was the one talking.
He would also do things like go into his cage, close the door and say, "Good night" in her voice as well.
Edit: I just remembered, his perch was right next to one set of the light switches in the living room and so he would also turn out the lights in the room before going into his cage and saying good night. That bird was a trip.
jairomantill on March 23rd, 2020 at 16:01 UTC »
He preferred to be Called Ñigel.