Parrot missing for months flies into schoolgirl’s window during online lesson

A parrot missing for months was reunited with its owner after flying through an open window and onto a schoolgirl’s shoulder while she was having an online lesson.

Rosco somehow survived a cold British winter in the wild after disappearing in August in Northampton, the Midlands.

His 13-year-old owner Tianna Coulson was left devastated, and had given up hope of seeing him again. 

But the bird showed up again two miles away, apparently keen to join in a Geography lesson on Microsoft Teams. 

Imogen, 14, left her teacher in fits of laughter as she tried to deal with the parrot on her shoulder.

Her mum Philippa Plater, 46, had initially seen the bird outside perched above the porch after hearing a strange noise.

‘He flew up to the windowsill outside my daughter’s bedroom, so she opened the window and he came straight in,’ she said.

‘It was like he was waiting and wanting to come in.

‘My other daughter was then late for her next class and she had to say “sorry I’m late, a parrot flew through my window into my house”.

‘Her teacher was just like “well, that’s the best excuse I’ve ever heard for turning up late to class” – I think it gave them all a much-needed giggle..”

Fulltime mum Philippa, 46, who lives in Weston Favell with her two daughters and husband Adam, 42, a property developer, said: ‘It was amazing really.’

She recognised it from an appeal she had seen online to track down the lost Quaker parrot, and got in touch with the owner from the community website Next Door. They FaceTimed to check it was their parrot, and within 15 minutes his owners had arrived to collect him. 

‘He was a lot more dirty than he was in the picture as he’d been out for months, but they knew straight away it was him,’ Philippa said.

‘It was a lovely moment as the granddaughter was saying “Oh my goodness, it’s Rosco.”

‘He looked pretty healthy and well-fed, but had a few peck marks to the head so obviously had been getting into a couple of scrapes.

‘It is amazing that he survived through the winter.

‘We think he wanted to come indoors as it was so cold and we were happy to oblige.

‘Within 15 minutes they had arrived to collect him.

‘While we were waiting, Rosco just sat on our shoulders and cuddled up.

‘You could tell he was really tame. He seemed quite happy once he was back in the warm but we obviously wanted to get him to his rightful owners.

‘It’s a lovely thing to have happened in the midst of all this awfulness that has been going on with Covid.’

Tianna, who lives with her gran in Abington, said: ‘I’m so happy to have him back – he seems the same as before and its like we haven’t been apart.

‘I’m so grateful to the family for getting in touch with us because not everybody would be so honest.’

Her gran Elaine said they were in disbelief to hear Rosco had been found so close to home at around 1pm on Monday.

The shop worker, 63, said: ‘We actually thought he was dead and we’d given up hope of finding him really.

‘When he first went missing, Tianna was very tearful, he just flew out of his cage one day while we were cleaning him out in the summer.

‘He has done extremely well to get through the winter as its been a cold one and I’m not sure they would usually survive in the wild.’

Philippa, added: ‘My daughters do want a pet parrot now though – but they will have to ask their dad!’