By Oliver Lees
An escaped pet Golden Blue Macaw has been returned to its owner after a three day search, thanks to the help of the Macedon Ranges community.
Justina Tomkinson said she was looking after her daughter’s pet, Magnum, when the tropical bird flew away.
“My daughter was away so I was responsible for him,” Ms Tomkinson said.
“I went to get him out of his cage, and he just took off and flew away from me into the night.
“Watching him fly up into the sky, I thought I was completely screwed. My daughter is completely obsessed with this bird.”
The next morning Ms Tomkinson put up posters around the town and enlisted the help of local wildlife expert Chris Humphries.
She then shared the news online and asked the community to keep an eye out for the brightly coloured bird.
“Chris really helped put my mind at ease, he said by the third day he’s likely to come back down to ground level looking for food,” she said.
“There was an amazing response online and people started to call me with sightings.
“One man called me and said for a second he thought he was in tropical Queensland when he caught a glimpse of him on Willowbank Road!”
After three days of searching, Ms Tomkinson received a call that Magnum had been found at a property more than eight kilometres from her home in New Gisborne.
“Macaws are very smart, he knew from experience that people would give him food,” she said.
“In the end he flew on to someone’s seat on their veranda and knocked his head on the door.
“It was just amazing to have so much support from the community and to get everyone looking out for him.”
