On April 12, 2002, Gandy flew out from our patio and got caught in a gust of wind after circling and attempting to fly downward back on to the patio.   Despite having James on the roof within seconds, we lost sight of what direction he had flown.

We searched that night until very late, and were up early the next day before sunrise but found no trace of him.  We handed out hundreds of flyers, and notified vet offices and pet stores within a 30 mile radius.

Six days after he flew off, there was a possible sighting of him in our neighborhood being chased by a pair of crows. After that, there were no sightings for months.

We kept hoping and praying that somehow our Gandalf would come back to us.  We faithfully ran a classified ad in our local newspaper for weeks.

As time passed, we began to think that perhaps he had found a new home and hoped that he was happy there.  However, one last attempt was required before we could move on.  Heather wrote to a reporter, Linda Goldston, who writes on pet and animal issues for the local newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News.

Weeks went by without a response until the morning of Friday, August 16th when Linda contacted Heather with the news that Gandy's story would run the following Monday.

On Monday, August 19th, we received over ten calls from people who wanted to tell us they'd seen a parrot, or even a Gray parrot.  One of the calls was from a man named Lenny who reported seeing an African Grey parrot in his neighborhood that very day.  We drove up and met with Lenny's friend, Ashley, who had observed the bird roosting in the area for several days.  She took us around her neighborhood, pointing out the trees the bird had roosted in but we didn't spot the bird that evening.

We talked to others in the neighborhood and found out that the bird was coming very close to people and had even been touched by a kid in the neighborhood before flying away.

The next day at 4 PM, Heather received a call from a young man named Chris who had managed to coax the bird to him using a dish of water.  It took him several attempts to catch the bird but his perseverance paid off and he finally managed to get the bird to step up on his hand. 

He told Heather that he knew it wasn't right that an African Grey parrot should be flying loose and surmised correctly that it must belong to someone who wanted it home.

Chris saw our story in the paper and called Linda, who gave him our home number.  We went to the house where the bird was being kept and found the bird in the backyard in an old and rusty but large cage.  Dry tree branches had been piled on the bottom of the cage and sunflower seeds and cut fresh fruit and vegetables were provided on the cage floor.

 The bird was clinging to the side of the cage because there was no adequate perch for it to use.  The bird had facial contusions and a swollen left eye.  His feather condition was fairly good with all primary flight feathers intact although he was missing some tail feathers.

The house where the bird was being kept was not where Chris lived -- it was his boss' home and the cage was an old one that they had found to use.  Chris realized it wasn't an ideal cage but did the best he could at the time.

After discussing the situation over the phone with Chris, he agreed to let us take the bird to the vet and then to our home until we were sure he was Gandalf.  Once we were sure, we'd let him know right away and give him the reward we were offering.

As we arrived home it became increasingly apparent that the bird was Gandalf.  He was relaxed and comfortable in our home and readily took to his old sleeping perch on our bedpost.

The next day he went to the vet for a full checkup.  He was bruised and scratched and had nail and beak growth commensurate with being gone for four months.  He was not microchipped and didn't wear a legband, also consistent with Gandalf.  He had bacterial and yeast infections but was not severely dehydrated or starving.  He had a sprained ankle which was visibly swollen.  His weight was down only 10 grams from what it was before he flew away.

We brought him home with medication to treat his infections and gave him all his favorite foods: cheese, Zupreem pellets, bread, apple and grapefruit juice, scrambled eggs, carrots, and peas.  He ate everything greedily and settled down for a good night's rest.

By the next morning, we were convinced he was our Gandalf.  This was based on his familiarity with our home, his friendliness with both of us, and his appearance, which perfectly matched Gandalf's, right down to a slightly lighter colored toenail on his left foot.  His head and eye shape, his size, and coloring were consistent with photos we had of Gandalf.  On his third night home he responded to his name by turning his head to look at us.  He also made the small kissing noise that he used to make when getting a kiss on the beak.

Chris received a reward for returning Gandalf.  Chris is a terrific young man and we will always be thankful for his efforts to coax Gandalf to him then doing the right thing in calling us.  During Gandalf's absence we prayed that he would choose such a person to be the one to help him.

Thank you to all those who stood by us during this ordeal, offering encouragement, support, donations for vet care, love, and acceptance.  We cannot ever appropriately express our thanks to all of you.