Escaped cockatiel reunited with Wellington owner

WELLINGTON — Archie had quite the adventure the past four days, not to mention the scare he gave his owner. The 7-month-old cockatiel got out during a cookout over the weekend, much to owner Kevin Wilson's dismay. "That's my baby," Wilson said. "I love all my animals, but that is my baby." Normally, the small gray and yellow bird can be found on the back of Wilson's gaming chair in the living room of his Wellington home, or riding contently on his shoulder. Wilson and his significant other have had Archie for the past five months — getting the fledgling cockatiel from The Bird Loft in Amherst after the couple won money using some free bets after sports betting became legal in Ohio. And in that time, Wilson and Archie have developed a deep bond and routine, learning each other's personalities. But instead of his usual routine on Saturday, Archie seized an unexpected opportunity of an open door and distracted humans and flew straight into a tree in the backyard. At first, Archie would have nothing to do with Wilson and the other friends and neighbors trying to get him inside, Wilson said, so they tried to give him space for a couple of hours to see if he would come back down on his own. "The issue with cockatiels is they can't really fly down, they're not very good at just dropping straight down," Wilson said. "They have to kind of glide and work their way — especially because he's an indoor, younger (bird), he's not used to flying from that high." Archie did try to fly down toward the house, Wilson said, but it didn't go well and instead, Archie headed up the street to another tree. Wilson sat under that tree for hours, with the neighbors trying to help coax Archie down, but instead, the little bird took off and flew even farther away. And from there, Archie led Wilson on a neighborhood-wide search, as he flew from tree to tree over the next couple of days. Community members joined in the effort, commenting on Archie's whereabouts on Wilson's Facebook posts, and trying to coax the bird down. By the second day, Wilson had lost sight of Archie after Wilson had to go home for the night to take care of his other pets — more small birds, cats and dogs. So Wilson used a YouTube video of cockatiel flock calls, hoping to hear Archie respond. When he finally found Archie again, he was high up in another tree in the middle of a field. The Wellington Fire Department couldn't help without tearing up the property, Wilson said, so it was once again up to Wilson and the community to try to get Archie down. All the while, Archie was having a grand adventure. Wilson said Archie didn't seem scared — though Wilson had other feelings — but was sitting on branches, stripping them of their leaves and cleaning himself. On that third night, Wilson ended up sleeping outside under the tree Archie had chosen so his pet wouldn't be alone. When the sound of a lawnmower startled Archie into flying off into another tree on the fourth day, Wilson again used the YouTube flock calls to track his beloved pet down. "I probably walked for four or five hours and then at first I thought I was going crazy, like it was just my mind hoping I heard something — but I kept hearing a faint (call back) … to me it was just a miracle but I was able to track him down using the flock calls." Archie was then low enough on a garage that Wilson was able to jump up there, but Archie flew to another tree on Vine Street near state Route 58 — several blocks away from their home. But by that point, Archie was seemingly tired and hungry and done with his adventure. When Wilson put his arms out — the signal he usually uses for Archie to come sit on his shoulder when they're at home — Archie glided to a branch above Wilson and one of Wilson's neighbors threw him a towel to quickly wrap Archie in and bundle him home. "Everyone keeps making comments like 'Oh, be careful. He's got that taste of freedom.' I don't think he liked it," Wilson said. "When I had him wrapped in the towel he just rested against me so peacefully — I think he was happy to be home." And by Tuesday afternoon, mere hours after Archie got home, he was acting like nothing happened — sitting back on Wilson's shoulder, grooming himself. Wilson said he'll be scheduling a grooming appointment to get Archie's wings clipped again, as they'd just grown back when he got out, and plans to work on harness training him to be able to go outside without causing such a panic. "I'm just happy to have him back," Wilson said. "He's a part of our family, he's not just an animal." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.