An escaped parrot has been reunited with its owner after landing on a man at the gym.
Last Wednesday evening Tim Palmer was at the CrossFit gym in Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, when he felt something on his head.
It was then Mr Palmer’s trainer pointed out a green parrot had taken up position on the creative director’s bonce.
Unfazed, the 44 year-old passed the bird to the assistant to look after while he did a few press ups before putting his new-found feathered friend in a cardboard box to take to his Harold Road home in Crouch End.
When he arrived, Mr Palmer placed the package in front of wife, Anna, son Leon, 10, and daughter Elise, 13, inviting them to guess what was inside.
Mrs Palmer, 44, said: “We were all thinking along the lines of a computer so were shocked when a parrot flew out.”
Released the 17 year-old pet flew from Leon’s to Elise’s head before settling on top of Mrs Palmer.
“Every time we tried to get the parrot off, it would just fly straight back on again,” she said.
Keen to trace its owner, the family put a post on the Crouch End Appreciation Society Facebook page asking if anyone had lost a parrot.
The interior designer and desktop publisher then went back to cleaning out the fridge whilst Leon and Elise fed nuts and fruit to the parrot which remained on top of Mrs Palmer’s head.
Twenty minutes later the family were sent a link to a website featuring the picture of a missing parrot.
After a quick phone call the owner, Harriet, arrived from the Holloway home two and a half miles away where the white fronted Amazon escaped last Tuesday, international talk like a pirate day.
Mrs Palmer said: “She was so relieved to have her parrot back.”
Harriet explained how Buffy, allowed to fly freely through her flat, had been startled by a noise and escaped through a back door left open by mistake.
On arrival Harriet and her boyfriend Mark opened Buffy‘s travel cage into which she flew before making noises which signalled the escapee was fed up after being missing for 28 hours.
Speaking afterwards, Harriet, 30, said: “It was wonderful to find her. She was exhausted, but is back to normal now. It didn’t take her long to get over it. It took me longer! She woke the next morning and ate some food. She was herself again.”
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