Runaway Clyde finds new home but Bonnie still at large
Runaway Clyde finds new home but Bonnie still at large
Friday August 1 2014, 5:30pm
A Wonga Beach family has found themselves with a new pet after one of a pair of runaway parrots used their home as a hideout.
Young Indian Ringnecked parrots Bonnie and Clyde took after their famous criminal namesakes and flew the coop while owner Rachel Powell was moving house from her Wonga property to Cooya Beach on July 27.
Clyde, whose wings have been clipped, was found by 12-year-old Wonga Beach State School student Amber Hawking-Elliott on the the back patio table of her Sylvia Street home.
“I came outside and just saw him sitting on the table and I said ‘everyone, there’s a bird on the table,” said Amber.
“His feathers were all messed up because we think he got attacked by another bird like a hawk.”
Amber, along with siblings Ryan, Lahni, Rhett and Lilah, enticed Clyde into a cage using slices of watermelon and set about looking for his owner.
Mum Wendy called Wonga Beach’s service station and spoke to the attendant who by coincidence was serving Ms Powell at the time.
Ms Powell decided to let the Hawking-Elliot kids keep Clyde as she was ‘downsizing’ her bird collection in the move between houses.
The kids were overjoyed.
“We thought we were going to have to give him back,” said Ryan.
Clyde seems to be settling into the Hawking-Elliot kids’ old chicken coop easily enough, chattering, saying ‘hello’ and wolf-whistling at passersby.
Mate Bonnie is still at large and with her unclipped wings is thought to have flown far away by now, but Ms Powell and the Hawking-Elliot kids still hold out hope that she will be found one day.
“Bonnie and Clyde were always very close - when she flew out of the coop the first time, he followed after her,” Ms Powell said.
Bonnie closely resembles Clyde’s yellow colouration but is missing the distinctive red ring around the neck that only male Indian Ringnecks feature.
Anyone that finds or spots her is encouraged to contact the Newsport.
