Could you tell us what area of the country you are in, state and area, ie southwestern CA or northern NY?

I have heard that some parrot owners teach their birds to recite a phone number or address, so if found they might be returned to their owner.

You might try hanging his cage in the tree where he was spotted, with food inside of course. He might just return to familiar surroundings.

Hope your bird comes home safely.

Hi, I am so sorry to hear about your mom's CAG. I am on a Lovebird forum and while most members have lovebirds, several have other parrots and one member just had the same thing happen....her gray accidentally got out. She had a very happy ending.....found her bird in about 24 hours. I know that she's located in Nova Scotia but posted on several forums to get help finding her bird.

The addy of my lovebird forum is: http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/

You might ask there where you can post to reach more people. Including your exact location is the most important thing.

Good luck, I sure do hope you find her!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lovebirds

I just posted this link to a couple of experts on my lovebird forum. Hopefully they will have a few good places for you to post this information to get help quickly. I know there are forums for "lost" birds but I don't personally have that information. Fingers crossed for your moms parrot.

Sounds like buggie is in England. I guess the wings weren't clipped. Sometimes birds that live in cages or indoors don't have enough wing strength to fly very far so hopefully she is still close by.

Thank you for tips! we are in England and she wasnt clipped, the cage is too big to take to the field where she was but my mum has put it in the garden just in case she passes by! i just thought if there were any bird watchers out there then the more eyes looking the better.
there is still no sign of her and were not sure how far she will have flown. just a bit scared in case wild birds get her! teaching phone numbers and addresses is a great idea unfortunatly she didnt get taught that. but she will tell you to take a bath and every name of the house hold and does it in my dads voice, spooky.

Here is one link that might help.....I'll follow up with a few more:

http://www.birdhotline.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: LOST bird hotline

And here is another:

Well UNFORTUNATELY, Garden Web has decided that I am trying to LURE you away by giving you these links and GW will not allow me to provide you with anymore information. What a shame and how idiotic is that. This is about trying to help find a LOST PARROT and nothing to do with their competition. :(

How silly, can you guys exchange personal e mails. Surley they can not complaine about that. This is a rescue mission not an advertisement.

Just post the url within your message, not in the box provided for links. You can make it an active link using html code, but just posting the url will work. People can copy and paste it.

Thanks for that suggestion, Spedigrees.

Here is another link that might help:

www.parrot911alert.com was very helpful and tell her to go to anfricangrey.com. A lot of members there are in england.

The friend who gave me that link is the same one who lost (and found) her gray last week.

The way to get any lost parrot back is to put out a cage with its favorite food near cage entrance, and inside. Then continuously play loud (in this case) African Gray sounds and calls from a CD player or MP-3 player/speaker. Most bird owners are advised to record their own birds' calls ahead of time for use in an emergency but it is now easy to download some.

Also, parrots should always have the first four primary feathers (on their wingtips) clipped down even with the secondaries. Parrots flying loose in the house can be injured, fall into boiling water, hit windows and be killed, etc. With that much clipped they can still do a controlled landing, but can't take off into the wild blue yonder. Once most cage parrots get airborn, they become confused and keep flying. They can't recognize the house because it is now so "small." In their confusion many become easy meals for hawks

Even racing pigeons have to be carefully trained with very short flights at first, and only when they have a mate on the nest.

Thank you all so much for all your help!!
she has been found!! she flew into some old ladys garden looking for food and she took her in to the house and called the bird rescue people. and they called my mum so there was lots of celabrations in the house on her return. but for some reason my mum wont have her clipped so you may just see me on here again in the future!!!
thanks again everyone. buggie x

What wonderful news! I'm so happy for you, and for the bird too of course!

Clipping the wings is a double edged sword. The avian vet told me that she sees many unhealthy overweight birds because of this practice, where the birds can't get sufficient exercise, yet unclipped birds are in danger of escaping. The extent of my bird keeping has been limited to parakeets (budgies) and my current resident pigeon, and I've never clipped their wings. They are/were very fit from flying in the large room where they are kept, but one has to be vigilent to be sure they don't escape into the rest of the house or they might get out the door. Knock on wood, I haven't lost a bird out the door yet.

Very glad to hear your mum's bird made a safe return.

I love a happy ending!

I am THRILLED that you've found that gray!

Clipping, IMHO, is necessary for a bird of that size. My lovebirds are not clipped (have been but are not presently) but I am in an adult household and not worried about them "accidentally" getting out. From what I've read, most larger parrots should have at least a partial clip. I agree with Rachel, it's dangerous to have a fully flighted bird in a house. Mine are in a bird room which has been made safe for them.

Your mother was very, very, very lucky. I really think she should consider a wing clip for her gray.

Don't clip her wings!!! Just put a leg band on her with your contact phone number.