Against All Odds, Our Bird Returned To Us

[falonso]

My wife and I live in the Chicago area, and on Thanksgiving morning our pet cockatiel, Tango, flew out the window. We were horrified, and we were able to track him down only to see him chased out of sight by a hawk. We were left not knowing if he was dead or alive, until Sunday when we got a call. Through a bunch of one-in-a-million shots bundled into one, we were able to get our bird back. A guest at a local Hotel had found him frozen and motionless in the parking garage and nursed him back to health.

Here was the full version of the story: Tango’s Thanksgiving Adventure | Living with my Wife

I hope you like the story, and I hope it helps anyone who has lost a bird to not give up.

EDIT:
Thanks a lot for reading the story, I'm glad you liked it. I made a video version of the story in case anyone is interested, I tried to make at least a little visually interesting so it has some footage us trying to get Tango out of the tree and him at 8 weeks. Let me know if you like it.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApolOMxhDSg"]Lost Bird - Tangos Thanksgiving Adventure - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ConureCrazy]

OMG I am so happy to see you have Tango back!
Freaky thing is, I had a whiteface cockatiel, just like Tango, named Tweeters who flew out a window on Thanksgiving day!!!! We we're hunting for him for a week and a miracle came along and we found him clutching to the tree in our front yard with his un-handicapped foot. That's amazing, the coincidence!!!!!

 

[Dharmawaits]

Dang that made me tear up. Fantastic story and a happy ending!! He's adorable skate boarding BTW.

 

[falonso]

OMG I am so happy to see you have Tango back!
Freaky thing is, I had a whiteface cockatiel, just like Tango, named Tweeters who flew out a window on Thanksgiving day!!!! We we're hunting for him for a week and a miracle came along and we found him clutching to the tree in our front yard with his un-handicapped foot. That's amazing, the coincidence!!!!!

That is incredible. What a coincidence, a white-face and on Thanksgiving! That is absolutely amazing! A handicapped bird at that! Did you live in a warmer climate by chance? The freezing temperatures what haunted us. The dropping temperatures were like a ticking clock on his survival.

 

[ConureCrazy]

OMG I am so happy to see you have Tango back!
Freaky thing is, I had a whiteface cockatiel, just like Tango, named Tweeters who flew out a window on Thanksgiving day!!!! We we're hunting for him for a week and a miracle came along and we found him clutching to the tree in our front yard with his un-handicapped foot. That's amazing, the coincidence!!!!!

That is incredible. What a coincidence, a white-face and on Thanksgiving! That is absolutely amazing! A handicapped bird at that! Did you live in a warmer climate by chance? The freezing temperatures what haunted us. The dropping temperatures were like a ticking clock on his survival.

I know, it's so incredible! And yes, I live in southern California, so during Thanksgiving it's pretty mellow weather. Just throw on a T Shirt and some jeans and you're good to go. The afternoon i was hot in sweats.

 

[antoinette]

Thank the man upstairs !!!!!
What a miracle, so happy for you and Tango

 

[sarafigal]

best story I've heard for some time! thanks for the link to the blog. btw, how did you teach him to skateboard?

 

[MikeyTN]

It got me teared up half way through the story....I'm soooooo glad you guys got Tango back as Cockatiels are one of my top favorite birds. Your Tango proves that Cockatiels are more then just a bird that sits around and act pretty or boring like some people thinks. They're super wonderful smart little birds!!!! I LOVE the skateboard video!!!!

 

[falonso]

best story I've heard for some time! thanks for the link to the blog. btw, how did you teach him to skateboard?

Thank you very much, I take that as a big compliment.

As for teaching him how to skateboard - I think having that bar for him to grab with his mouth is pretty necessary. I positively reinforced him using clicker training to do it. I went through these steps, moving on only once he had mastered it to the point where he would do it over and over.

Step 1: Reward him for biting the bar.

Step 2: Reward him only for biting the bar when he has one foot on the skateboard.

Step 3: Reward him only when he bites the bar, has one foot on the skateboard, and makes forward progress.

Step 4: Hold off on rewards for longer forward progress (If he makes two scoots I am pretty happy though).


That was pretty much it, it was basically some luck and patience, but overall not that difficult. I'm not sure if step 2 or step 3 took the longest. If you want me to elaborate more let me know.

 

[falonso]

Thanks a lot for reading the story, I'm glad you liked it. I made a video version of the story in case anyone is interested, I tried to make at least a little visually interesting so it has some footage us trying to get Tango out of the tree and him at 8 weeks. Let me know if you like it.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApolOMxhDSg]Lost Bird - Tangos Thanksgiving Adventure - YouTube[/ame]

 

[MikeyTN]

Very wonderful video!!!! Whiteface Cockatiels have always been one of my top favorite and I personally think they're super intelligent(Whiteface Cockatiels). Since I've raised all different colors before, they're one of my top favorites....

 

[falonso]

Very wonderful video!!!! Whiteface Cockatiels have always been one of my top favorite and I personally think they're super intelligent(Whiteface Cockatiels). Since I've raised all different colors before, they're one of my top favorites....

Interesting, I've never heard that before. I'm glad you liked the video!

By the way, they just told the story in the Chicago Tribune:
Cockatiel goes on the lam for holiday - chicagotribune.com