"Hi, my name is Ziggy. I am a Barraband parakeet, native to Australia, but I live in Scotland. Normally I live inside a cage - but in April 2002, I enjoyed a few days of freedom. I escaped. Believe me, the world is BIG, and there are a lot of weird and wonderful things out there. And I can also tell you, that it is not easy being green."
"Don't you dare come up here!"
Ziggy appeared on our bird feeder on a chilly spring day, and decided to stay. He was a feisty little fellow, who chased the other birds away, but had less success with the squirrels. He even went for one of them, and the fight left a shaken squirrel sitting for a long time on the fence, recovering, while Ziggy few screeching loudly to a tree branch. That squirrel had never seen a green bird before, let alone been attacked by one.
Realizing that Ziggy must be somebody's lost pet, we called the police, and found out that his loss had indeed been reported. The owners brought Ziggy's cage, and left it on our patio.
Tess did not play a role in this, as she was not allowed out in the garden while we were trying to capture Ziggy. But she was very interested in him when he was in his cage in our kitchen, waiting for his owners to come and get him.
Kermit the Frog sings his hit song: It's not Easy Being Green:
Ziggy came, recognized his cage and climbed in, but always flew off when we tried to close it. He had been out on his own for almost a week by then, and was getting quite wise. He seemed to be enjoying his freedom, but our garden was the only place he found decent birdseed and nuts.
Then it started raining. It rained all night, and it was cold. The next morning we saw a wet green bird sitting in his cage on the patio, and this time we managed to close the cage. Ziggy's big adventure was over.
Back behind bars.