BRITISH EXPAT Darren Chick was gutted when he lost his beloved grey African parrot, Nigel, four years ago.
After a couple of months of fruitless searching the Torrance-based Brit had given up all hope of ever seeing Nigel again – until veterinary tech Teresa Micco turned up last week with Nigel in tow.
Quite where the bird has been for the past four years remains a mystery. But Nigel certainly seems to have gone native – he has lost his British accent and now speaks Spanish, with ‘que paso?’ his favorite utterance.
Mr Chick told a reporter that even though he has no idea where the bird has been for the last four years, he recognized him immediately.
Nigel was discovered by Julia Sperling of the Happy Tails Dog Spa in Torrance, who found him at the door of her salon one day and took him.
“He was the happiest bird. He was singing and talking without control. He was barking like the dogs,” she told reporters.
“I’m from Panama and he was saying, ‘What happened?’ in Spanish.”
Julia thought he resembled Benjamin, a missing grey parrot whose picture she had seen posted in the neighborhood, so she contacted Benjamin’s owner, Teresa Micco and handed him over.
After careful examination Teresa realized Nigel was not hers and attempted to trace his original owner. Fortunately Nigel had been microchipped – amazingly enough by Micco some years earlier – and by searching through old sale records Teresa was able to ensure a reunion between the bird and his human companion.
Both phone numbers Teresa had on record were disconnected, so she drove round to Darren’s house and knocked on his door.
“I introduced myself and said, ‘Have you lost a bird?’ He initially said no. But he thought I meant recently.
“He looked at me like I was crazy.”
The reunion brought tears – and not just of joy – to Chick’s eyes. Things didn’t go as smoothly as it could have. Nigel initially bit Chick when he 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 said by the end of the week. “It’s really weird, I knew it was him from minute I saw him.”
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