Pet Parrot Missing For Four Years Returns, Now Speaks Spanish

Nigel the talking parrot spoke English with a British accent when he disappeared four years ago, which already sounds cool. But it seems Nigel wasn’t satisfied with just one language, using his mysterious time on the lam to pick up Spanish.

His owner isn’t sure where he went or what the African grey parrot did while he was away, but apparently he came into contact with Spanish because that’s his new language of choice, reports the Daily Breeze in Torrance, CA. He also likes talking about someone named “Larry.”

He and his owner were reunited last week, after a veterinarian who’d been running ads for her own lost parrot was contacted by a grooming business that thought they’d found the missing bird at their house.

“I heard somebody whistling and saying, ‘Hello? Hello?’ ” said the grooming business owner, adding that the sound brought her to the door. No one was there.

It happened again, and this time she saw the parrot.

“I own a dog-grooming business so we put him in a little cage and brought him with us to the store,” she said. “He was the happiest bird. He was singing and talking without control. … He was barking like the dogs. I’m from Panama and he was saying, ‘What happened?’ in Spanish.”

She and her husband started looking for his owner, and spotted the vet’s ad. The microchip didn’t match her bird, leading her to track down Nigel’s owner in a bit of a complicated chase.

Nigel’s owner was surprised to find his bird after all those years, and it seemed Nigel was a bit surprised too — the reunion was a bit bumpy at first as the bird bit his owner at first.

Things are smoother now, his owner said.

“He’s doing perfect,” he said. “It’s really weird, I knew it was him from minute I saw him.”

Talking parrot missing for four years reunited with Torrance owner [The Daily Breeze]