Parrot missing for years returns speaking Spanish
A pet parrot that spoke with a British accent when it disappeared from its home four years ago has been reunited with its owner. And the bird now speaks Spanish.
The reunion was brought about by a Southern California veterinarian, Teresa Micco. She mistook Nigel, an African gray parrot, for her own missing bird. The story appeared in the Daily Breeze newspaper.
Micco tracked Nigel's microchip to Darren Chick. He's a Brit who lives in Torrance.
"I introduced myself and said, 'Have you lost a bird?'" Micco said. "He initially said no. But he thought I meant recently."
When she verified Chick's name and said she had his African grey parrot, "He looked at me like I was crazy."
He said his bird went missing four years earlier.
Little is known about Nigel's whereabouts the past four years. Chick says the bird's British accent is gone. It now chatters in Spanish.
Chick says last week's reunion brought tears of joy to his eyes. That was despite the fact that Nigel bit him when he tried to pick him up.
Micco said the bird's behavior was not unusual. Nigel would settle back in soon enough, she predicted.
"He's doing perfect," Chick told the newspaper a few days later. "It's really weird. I knew it was him from the minute I saw him."
This is the fifth parrot reunion facilitated by Micco. She has been running ads for her own missing bird. That parrot, Benjamin, flew the coop in February. It darted out a door that was left open.
Julissa Sperling found Nigel outside her home and brought him to Micco. Sperling had seen one of Micco's ads.
But first, Sperling took Nigel to her dog-grooming business.
"He was the happiest bird. He was singing and talking without control," she said. "He was barking like the dogs. I'm from Panama and he was saying, 'What happened?' in Spanish."
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An African grey parrot (AP photo / Reuters)
That is sad that it ran away
Wow, what a heartwarming yet surprising story! I loved how Nigel went missing for 4 years. Then when he comes back he speaks Spanish?
what kind of parrot is it. can you under stand the parrot. do you speak Spanish. when did you get it.
what part of France do you live in.
This article is weird because a parrot came returning and speaking Spanish. He actually spoke British accent but know when he returned he speaks Spanish. The parrot was very selfish to leave his owner and disappear for 4 years and returned and spoke Spanish. I think it is awesome to have a parrot that speaks different language 4 years later. I agree that a parrot can change languages because they always copy other people's words and then maybe the parrot can speak Spanish. I learned that a parrot disappeared and had returned speaking Spanish. I am amazed that a parrot can speak Spanish after he had been gone for 4 years.
It is always hard when a pet goes missing. Or dies. Sometimes though they do get lost. it always amazes me when an animal is found after over a year. I'm sure it also amazes the pets' owners.
That's so crazy how it took four years to have him return to his original owner. Where did he go when he learned spanish ? I wonder how the vet found out it wasn't her bird. From the sound of it Nigel wasn't so sure about returning to his owner. Now he is doing perfectly fine.
This story is about a bird that left its owners house with a british accent and came back speaking Spanish. I think it's pretty interesting how a parrot can learn different langues. I wonder how long the bird took to learn the langue. It's also interesting how smart this bird is. If
This story is about hoe a bird left its owner speaking with a British accent and came back speaking Spanish. It's outstanding how smart this bird is. I would probably take longer for me to learn a languor
than the parrot. I wonder how long it took the bird to learn the languor. This was an interesting story.
In the article An African grey parrot it is crazy that a bird left it's owner for four years and came back speaking spanish
What in the world how can a parrot speak Spanish. I don't thing that is possible. First the parrot speak's British then four years later he speak's Spanish.