A gray parrot with its red tail took flight from the Merrill Gardens retirement community mid-day Wednesday and caused quite a stir among the senior citizen residents who considered the bird their pet.

The bird that usually walked around the grounds with its owner at its side flew off the campus even though it had its wings clipped.

“Herbie” was actually owned by retired CPA Malma Nicholson who was at the Manteca Bulletin within an hour after seeing the bird fly off, putting in a “lost and found” classified advertisement while her friends began walking the neighborhood hoping to catch sight of the very verbal parrot.

One of Manteca’s medical professionals and his wife were sitting in their home on Rockford Way Wednesday evening when they were alerted to something in their back yard by one of their two dogs.

The couple found the parrot perched on top of a five-foot-tall bush where it was apparently bedding down for the night.  They brought their dog inside their home and called police.  Officer Dan Chestnut responded to the home where he voiced concern for the safety of the parrot if he attempted to put it in his patrol car.

Chestnut was aware that the woman had made contact with the newspaper earlier in the day and called to see if there was a telephone number available for the owner who might be willing to drive to the home on Rockford and pick up the bird.

Nicholson said an Officer Josh Luis picked her up in a patrol car at the front door of the retirement community and drove her to get her parrot.  The Merrill Gardens van drove behind to bring the bird and its owner back home.

“I was just so excited that my bird was safe.  I was shaking so bad when I got over there,” she said.  “The people who live here at Merrill Gardens love him as much as I do.”

Officer Chestnut had the bird sitting on his neck when the woman got out of the police car.  Chestnut said when the parrot saw its owner it let out with a piercing police siren-like scream. 

“I wasn’t going to sleep before, because I was hurting.  Now I’m probably not going to sleep because I am so excited to have him back,” Nicholson said.

She couldn’t say enough about the couple that found her pet saying they were exceptional in the way they handled the situation. She quoted them as saying they knew how they would feel if one of their pets was missing.  And those two police officers were heroes in their own right – saying the parrot means the world to her.

She explained the shrill siren-like whistle is his telling those around him that everything is OK and that he is the “boss of this place and boss of the hill.”

The longtime Manteca resident said he had another parrot that died last year after it had saved her life by calling attention to the fact she had fallen unconscious from a serious illness.  This parrot won’t have the chance to fly away again, she said.  She had been worried if it had been out all night and it had rained that it might come down with pneumonia.