Ask Lafeber

Lost my myna bird

I have a myna bird for 2 years and rescued him from a bad owner. He was with me everywhere and I let him free to fly in house and in the garden. He could hunt insects besides what he usually used to eat such as rice, myna food and fruits. However, I left him with my neighbor who was familiar to him, since I was on a trip for a week. He let my bird to wash himself and fly in the garden, but , unfortunately he put his cage on 3rd floor and opened the door of his cage as usual but the bird flew away. Do you think he can survive in the city? Or maybe finds a new house for food? What myna birds usually do in this situation?
He usually came to me when I called his name , do you think he maybe in our neighborhood ?
I really worry for him

Hi Tiam,

I’m sorry about your bird. You can try searching the neighborhood and place fliers to let people know to look out for him. Unfortunately you have learned the hard way that it is never a good idea to allow a pet bird to fly free outdoors. There are many things that can cause a bird to fly away and never return. The main reason is it’s a wild bird by nature and given the opportunity, they will fly away. They don’t understand that they are not in their natural environment – generally they aren’t even on the right continent. So they can survive to a point, but in most cases they are captured or killed by someone, caught by a predator, or they eventually succumb to starvation, disease, parasites or the climate. Some hardier species have survived and even thrived as escaped or released pets, but this comes at a cost to the native birds and wildlife. It’s actually illegal in many places to deliberately release a non-native species to the wild. I’m sorry for the lecture but it seems to be a growing trend to allow a pet bird to fly outdoors without a restraint. I would encourage you to post lost bird fliers as well as contact local animals shelters and Vets, and search for online services for reporting a lost bird. Since birds can fly long distances, posting the lost bird on the internet will allow people outside of your immediate area to know there is an escaped pet bird. I hope you are able to find him or that he returns.

Take care,

Brenda