LOWER EAST SIDE — After two days on the wing, an Amazon parrot named Schmidty has returned safely home.
Parrot owners Mandana and Jascha, who live on the Lower East Side and asked that their last names not be used, first reported their beloved 2-year-old parrot missing last Tuesday, scoured the streets and posted missing posters on corners and on the web before spotting him two days later in a tree on East 12th Street and Avenue D, they said.
The bird's disappearance and safe return home was first reported in EVGrieve.
The pair spent 3-1/2 hours unsuccessfully trying to get emergency officials to help them get the bird down, then threw things into the tree and tried to lure him inside with makeshift bridges.
Finally, they went home, got Schmidty's cage, and set it at the base of the tree with lots of food.
"It took about ten minutes," said Mandana, "And he saw his cage and all the food and he just climbed down the tree."
Mandana said Schmidty flew off on Tuesday afternoon when the couple was sitting with him on their rooftop garden on the Lower East Side on Avenue B and 13th street.
"He was sitting with us in the sun," Mandana said, "And something moved in the bushes and he got scared and flew off."
Mandana said the couple was accustomed to taking Schmidty outside without problems, since he can't fly well and usually he never moved.
Schmidty was back safe and sound by 3 p.m.
"It's the end of a two-day nightmare," Mandana said with a sigh.
