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Missing parrot returns to owner 4 years later, speaking Spanish

This article is more than 12 months old

Talk about a different kind of Spanish holiday!

This one took four years and involved a parrot named Nigel, which went missing from California four years ago.

By the time Nigel returned to owner Darren Chick (exact date unknown), it had lost its British-accented English.

Instead, it spoke in Spanish and kept asking for someone named Larry

Southern California newspaper Daily Breeze reported on Saturday (Oct 11) that owner Chick didn't know where African grey parrot Nigel has been for four years. Aside from the language switch, the bird is coping well.

"He's doing perfect," Chick told the paper. "It's really weird, I knew it was him from the minute I saw him."


Photo: YouTube

Chick should thank the Torrance, California couple who run a dog grooming business for Nigel's return.

They discovered the bird in the backyard and contacted vet technician Teresa Micco, who had placed an ad for her own missing parrot.

It turns out she wasn't the owner.

When Micco realised that Nigel wasn't hers, she was able to trace him via a pet store's original sales records to Chick.

Cue the happy ending between bird and man.

Micco, meanwhile, still hopes her parrot  will turn up at her doorstep one day. 

Sources: Reuters, Daily Breeze, YouTube/ NBC News

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