14 DAY TRIAL // An African grey parrot named Nigel was not too long ago reunited with its British owner, a man named Darren Chick, who currently lives in the city of Torrance in California, US.
By the looks of it, the parrot went missing about 4 years ago. At that time, it had no trouble uttering English words and phrases, and even did so with a British accent.
What's really bizarre is that, now that it has finally been reunited with its owner, Nigel no longer speaks British English. On the contrary, the bird appears to be surprisingly fluent in Spanish.
Thus, its owner claims that it very often shouts “Que pasa?” (Spanish for “What's up?”) at him, and that it keeps mentioning some guy named Larry. Who this man is and what he means to Nigel remains a mystery.
Even more interesting, word has it that, at the time it first laid eyes on its owner, whom it hadn't seen in 4 years, the African grey parrot attempted to bite him.
Darren Chick was quite disappointed with the bird's behavior but is hopeful that, once it gets used to its surroundings, Nigel will once again be its usual loving self.
He did not out and say it, but chances are that the African grey parrot's owner also hopes that, in time, the bird will lose its love for the Spanish language and will go back to its British roots.
A stroke of good luck
As mentioned, it was about 4 years ago that Nigel went missing from the home it shared with its owner in Torrance, California. Darren Chick is still clueless about how and why the bird left him.
According to the Daily Breeze, the bird was found a few months ago by a business owner named Julissa Sperling. The woman first assumed that the bird belonged to a local vet named Teresa Micco, who herself was looking for her missing African grey parrot, Benjamin.
However, almost as soon as she laid eyes on the bird found by Julissa Sperling, Teresa Micco figured out that it wasn't her bird. Rather than simply abandoning it, she did her best to find its owners.
Thus, the woman managed to track down the bird's sale papers. Eventually, she found that the African grey parrot belonged to Darren Chick, and contacted him. Not long after, the adventurous bird was back in its owner's loving arms.
“So I showed up at his house and knocked on the door. I introduced myself and said, ‘Have you lost a bird?’ He initially said ‘No’ – but he thought I meant recently,” Teresa Micco told the press in an interview.
The bad news is that, although Nigel and Darren Chick are now back together again, Teresa Micco is yet to find her beloved African grey parrot, Benjamin.