California Parrot, Missing for 4 Years, Returns Speaking Espanol

When a chatty African grey parrot flew the coop four years ago, he had two distinguishing features: a proper British accent and a microchip implanted beneath his skin that identified his owner as an aptly-named bird lover — one Darren Chick of Torrance, California.

Last week, against all odds, Nigel the parrot was reunited with Chick, though years on the wing had changed the African Grey. Nigel now speaks Spanish, not the Queen’s English, and his conversation is peppered with references to a mystery man named Larry.

The improbable story of how Nigel and Chick found each other was reported this week in an amazing story in the Torrance Daily Breeze. The tale involved a sleuthing veterinarian desperate to find her own lost African Grey, and includes an incredible twist.

The vet who helped reunite Nigel and Chick, a Redondo Beach resident who is an associate veterinarian at Pointe Vicente Animal Hospital in Rancho Palos Verdes, was the vet tech who microchipped Nigel at Animal Lovers in Torrance, the pet shop where Chick originally bought Nigel.

Nigel had some adjustment issues soon after he was returned — the parrot bit Chick when the owner tried to pick him up. But Chick says the parrot has settled down, and since then, everything has been muy bien.

• Read the Full Story in the Torrance Daily Breeze

PHOTO Patch file photo (not Nigel).

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