“I’ve lost him for a year and we’ve tried all kinds of things to get her back,” says an overjoyed Marvin Knolle, owner of the escaped ‘noise parrot’ from Bovenkarspel. He hopes to reunite her with her male and young soon.
For a long time Knolle had lost sight of his exotic King Parrot. “She flew away last year after she had a nest and left the little ones and dad behind. All summer I went from Lutjebroek to where she is now, at Hertog Albrechtstraat, with several people with traps. In vain.”
Knolle reported to the editors of NH Nieuws when he read that his King Parrot had been spotted by the Longayroux family. They have the exotic guest been a guest for a long time at their feeding table in Bovenkarspel. The bright green King Parakeet with its bright red breast and loud crowing is a present visitor in the couple’s garden.
The escape
Knolle has always had birds in the house, but has had a voilière in his backyard in Bovenkarspel for two years now. He had taken over a number of birds from a neighbor who died at the time. Marvin: “So I only just had her then. Apparently something went wrong with feeding. And flop, she was suddenly gone.”
All summer he tries with all his might to get her. She was first seen in Lutjebroek. “I sat down there with a little one of hers in the box to lure her, but that didn’t work. She is always high in the tree, almost impossible to catch. At a certain point you resign yourself to it if you already tried so much. With sticks of about 8 meters, late at night because then she sees little.”
Until she seems to have found a permanent base with someone in the garden. “I then put together a trap myself with a magnetic switch. If she would then go in, the resident could press the button.” But it doesn’t come to the catch. “That lady moved, after which I had to remove the trap. Since then I have lost her, until I read the message yesterday.”
Male ‘discolored with sorrow’
Her nest and male abandoned the ‘noise parrot’. “There’s another baby of hers here, he’s almost one year old now. There were three little ones, of which I was only able to raise one by hand. The other two couldn’t have survived without their mother.”
According to Knolle, the male is visibly bothered by the fact that his buddy has been gone for so long. “That male, he’s just sitting there now. His plumage has discolored and turned faded. That’s a sign that they’re not feeling well.” Usually a pair of King Parakeets stays together for the rest of their lives, explains Knolle.
New capture attempt?
The female King Parrot has so far held up in the Dutch climate, despite winter and storm. “It has always been birds that are in an outdoor aviary, I was not immediately concerned about the cold, but in terms of food he really depends on humans.”
Knolle knows how hard it is to catch the bird, but wants her back. “I still have the cage here. I would like to get in touch with the Longayroux family or see what is possible with the animal ambulance. We would like to have her back in her place with her male.”