Published: September 05, 2008 11:51 pm            

Our Buddy

Adventurous parrot returns home

When Lamar and Bonnie Smith first discovered that their parrot, Buddy, had escaped from his cage and flown off into the wild blue yonder, they weren't too concerned. Buddy had escaped before, and had always come back on his own.

But when Buddy hadn't returned home by evening, the couple began to worry. It wasn't like him to stay away for so long. So they called the Meridian Star to place a classified ad for a lost parrot. Much to their surprise, they were told, "You lost a parrot, we found one!"

Earlier that day, someone had called in with an ad for a found parrot. The found parrot, it turned out, was in fact Buddy. Some people who had been working at a neighboring house had found Buddy and taken him with them in order to keep him safe while they searched for the owners.

Feeling relieved, the Smith's called to retrieve their parrot, only to find that the people who found him had lost him again.

Buddy was sitting on the shoulder with one of his captors when he decided it was high time he began the next leg of his adventure and flew away.

It was bad enough that the Smith's had found Buddy only to lose him again, but on top of that they had to deal with rumors that he had been captured by a hawk.

"I just had such horror in my mind about what was happening to the poor little thing when he was out there all alone," Bonnie said.

Fortunately, the rumor was untrue, and Buddy was found again Monday by a Parks and Recreation department employee who was working along 22nd Ave.

"He saw something green on the ground, and he thought it was a toy or a doll or something," Bonnie said.

But far from being a toy, the green thing on the ground was Buddy. The man was brave enough to pick up a strange parrot and take him home, and called the Smith's right away to tell them "I have your parrot."

The Smith's were ecstatic to have their bird back, and grateful to the people Buddy met along the way.

"They just took such good care of him," Bonnie said.

Now that Buddy is home, he is wily as ever. Though the Smith's are keeping him inside the house, when he's let out of his cage he's happy to take the opportunity to fly around as if he owns the place.

It's easy to imagine him gleefully saying, "Catch me if you can!"

        

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