During our usual “it’s 9am, let’s go outside and gossip for ten minutes” break this morning, a couple of co-workers and I had a close enounter with a non-naitive species.

Right outside our office (which is converted warehouse space) is a loading dock with some benches and vending machines. Next to our dock is a security fence surrounding a bunch of big HVAC air handlers and some emergency generators. Sitting on this fence this morning was one of these:

this is not the actual bird; but he looked like this. nobody had a camera

Our little cockatiel seemed friendly enough, tentatively coming closer to us (while remaining on the other side of the fence), “chirping” happily. This behavior, as well as the little metal band on his leg, made it reasonably clear that he managed to escape from one of the many homes in the neighborhood, and had not flown all the way to North America from his naitive Australia. A couple of us spent about ten minutes trying to coax him to the outside of the fence where someone could reach him, while another alerted the base security office (not that I expected them to know what to do, necessarily) so someone knew to be on the lookout for him.

again, not the actual bird, but a good approximation

We’d gotten him as far as the top of the chainlink fence, when the air handlers turned on, making a lot of noise and belching a big cloud of steam. This, not surprisingly, scared our new feathered friend, who quickly flew to one of the ornamental fruit trees across the street near the Commander’s residence, where we quickly lost sight of him, but could still hear him squawking nervously.

With luck, he’ll stay safely in that area (which is nowhere near busy streets or loud machinery) until someone can retrieve him and return him to the comfort of his home perch, as there is no doubt a child sitting at an area school today, inconsolable with worry as to the fate of her beloved avian companion.