How do you find a beloved missing pet bird? It helps if it can talk

Chuck the bird has a really comfortablelife.

The two-year-old Indian ringneck parrot lives in a gorgeous family home in Winnipeg with Cookie the cockatiel and Coco the conure.

Every morning, Chuck wakes up his family around6:30. Kevin and Jane Porteget up to feed him bread andpeanut butter. Then he flies freely into their bathroom to shower.

"We just allow them to fly in the house because I feel like they're part of the family, so they shouldn't be caged, right?" said Jane.

Chuck appears to love being part of the family, and they dote on him. They have taken him along when theygocamping. He spends lots of time on Jane's shoulder and she's teaching him Tagalog.

"They have themind of a five-year-old or something or so they can learn quite a few phrases and their personality comes out," said Kevin. Ringnecks are known to be highly intelligent birds that can live up to 30 years.

Chuck especially likes talking to nine-year-old Jaxonand can repeat 'I love you',as well as the popularJoey Tribbiani Friendscatchphrase, "How YOU doin'?"

The escape

No one will ever understand exactly why Chuck decided to leave that Saturday night in October and fly into the wilds of Winnipeg.

Jane had a casserole in her hands as she was going out the door, Kevin was coming inbecause he had forgotten his wallet. The frontdoor was open just a little too long.

Chuck flew through the open door, landed on Jane for a moment, and then flew up and away as his dismayed family watched helplessly.

"As I watchedhim fly away, actually my heart is broken because I was just so scared that we may not find him," said Jane.

My heart is broken because I was just so scared that we may not find him.- Jane Porte

The temperature in Winnipeg that night was 5 C, which may have felt cool for the tropical bird used to his feathered nest and regular feedings at home.

The Porte family worried about Chuck'sability to fly long distances, evade predators, and even traffic.

"Just to put your mind into a bird is almost impossible, so we're just panicking," said Kevin. "We knew it was kind of not a lot of hope to find him, but we we couldn't just, like,sit and do nothing."

They quickly made a flyer and headed out to search their neighbourhood, without success.

Jane joined every local lost pet Facebook group she could find and shared their cellphone numbers with a network of strangers.

She stayed up, unable to sleep, hoping her bird would find his way home.

After searching, and crying, all day on Sunday Jane made a family announcement.

"I said no more pets after this. It's traumatizing to lose a pet."

Feathered friend arrives

Meanwhile, Sunday evening about sixkilometres away, behind a tiny house beneath some tall trees, Trevor Van Huitwas working in his backyard with a friend when a yellow bird flew in and landed.

"I started talking to the bird, I said 'Hello! Hello!' and then it started saying what I said. I was like 'Oh my goshthis isit's a parrot!'"

Van Huit feeds the wild birds in his neighbourhood twice a day, so he had lots of birdseed on hand - and Chuck was hungry. When he had finished his meal, Chuckclimbed up on Van Huit's finger, then kept climbing up his armand rode on Van Huit'sbackinto hishouse.

After puttingChuck in a bedroom, Van Huitset off to knock on doors looking for the bird'sowner.

Denise Vandal, who lives next door, was surprised when Van Huit told her about his feathered visitor. She offered to put out the word on Facebook.

"I know how dear animals are to people," said Vandal. "I know if I lost my little kitty cat, I would be heartbroken as well. I mean iwasjust what you do."

Within an hour someone sent Vandal one of Jane's social media posts. Vandal called Jane right away.

It was a tearful reunion when Jane saw her beloved pet again, but they were tears of gratitude.

"I was so relieved and thankful," said Jane. "There's a lot of good people out there so that actually care. You know, they could actually [have] just let it go and not called the person or...they could keep the bird as well, right?"

Since his adventure, Chuck has resumed his comfy spot on Jane's shoulder and his Tagalog lessons.

"It felt like community just all came together and helped us find our bird," said Kevin.