Community joins in Boardman bird search

By RICHARD L. BOCCIA

A 62-year-old woman’s African Grey parrot has been missing for five weeks.

BOARDMAN — Just a few days after Carol Penny lost her African Grey parrot, the nighttime temperature dipped below 50 degrees. Penny was worried about how her tropical bird, Scarlet, would fare on a cold township night.

“The vet told me not to be concerned because he saw a picture of six macaws that had gotten loose and were raiding a bird feeder in the snow,” Penny said.

Her relief was short-lived, however. The bird has been missing for five weeks.

“I’m devastated,” Penny said. “It’s like losing a member of the family.”

The 63-year-old got the parrot 10 years ago when her husband died.

“She really filled the void. I have dogs and cats and I love them, but they don’t talk to you like she does,” Penny said.

Scarlet calls Penny “honey” and says goodbye when she puts on her shoes. Sometimes, Scarlet imitates a phone ringing to keep Penny from leaving.

When she works outside, Penny keeps Scarlet nearby in a cage. Scarlet’s wings had been clipped regularly in the past to keep her flightless, but after a recent switch to a new veterinarian, Penny didn’t realize that she needed to ask for the feathers to be cut.

One night in June, Penny opened the cage to take Scarlet inside when a loud noise startled the bird. Scarlet had never gotten out before, and flew to the trees behind Penny’s home on Hitchcock Road.

Since then, the bird has been spotted as far away as the Mill Creek Park boat launch.

“I passed out fliers to people on the [park] walking trail as I was calling her name,” Penny said. She hoped that people on the trail would spot her bird, since they walk through the area every day.

“The people who have called have said they don’t want a reward even though I’m offering — they just want to help ... I can’t tell you how many people said they were praying for me to get my bird back,” she said.

The spottings have gotten nearer and farther from Penny’s home near Western Reserve Road. One person who called said the parrot was walking on the sidewalk at Overhill Road and Glenwood Avenue, about five miles from Penny’s house. A family who lives by Boardman High School on Glenwood caught Scarlet on a surveillance video.

“She was talking. The bird actually got down and was walking on the cement,” Penny said.

Scarlet is very talkative. A man who lives on Tanglewood Drive by Southern Park Mall heard screeching one night in his backyard, and called Penny the next day after he saw a flier she had posted at an exotic bird store.

“She just sounded lonely,” the man told Penny. He also owns birds, and recognized the sound.

Other bird owners have sympathized with Penny’s loss after seeing her flier in grocery stores.

“I had a lady call me who had lost her African Grey,” Penny said. The woman’s son had successfully gotten their bird out of a tree, and she said he could do the same if Scarlet was found.

African Greys are known for their intelligence, but also for their skittishness, Penny said.

That’s why Penny is asking that people call her rather than trying to catch the bird themselves.

The first night that Scarlet fled, the bird was terrified, and flew to the top of a tree in the yard. When Penny attempted to reach her by ladder, the bird took off.

“My two 80-year-old neighbors were out there in their nightgowns. God bless them,” Penny said.

Support from the community has left Penny feeling hopeful. She said she was contacted by the president of a local exotic bird club, who offered the help of 20 club members.

“They are ready to immediately come look for her,” she said.

Penny knows the odds are tough. “It’s a needle in a haystack. The sightings are so far apart,” she said.

Still, she’s holding out that Scarlet will make it back safely.