Johnson

This is a story about Johnson - a long billed Corella. The HR team here likes to eat their lunch outside when they can. The property here is large and parklike and also adjacent to a national park. One day a large bird flew down and landed on the back of a chair behind our Hr Manager Sam. The bird said to her "hello father" and she laughed and he laughed back at her. Every day for the next week he came to them as they had lunch when they started to notice he didn't look well. The contacted a bird rescue and were given instructions on how to catch him, and they gave Sam a temporary aviary for him. Unfortunately that day the lawn service cut the lawn and scared him away. They looked for him for the next week but he didn't come back.

Sam - who lives nearby decided to check a park on the way home and there was Johnson in the middle of a flock of cockatoos, feeding on the ground. When he saw her he came to her. She was able to capture him (with some help) and then paid to have him vet care (he had a bacterial infection). Ultimately he was given to a cockatoo rescue out in the country where he chooses to live "inside" but is allowed to fly freely and return when he wants. Obviously at one time domesticated apparently many of these birds are released upon the death of their owners as their life spans can be more than 70 years.