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LONDON — Two sister parrots ruffled a number of feathers once they flew the coop and escaped from their house on the London Zoo, sparking a week-long search that mobilized fowl fanatics throughout England.
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Margot and Lily, two blue-throated macaws, made it 100 kilometres north of the zoo earlier than locals had been in a position to help zookeepers in monitoring them down. There are solely about 400 blue-throated macaws left within the wild, making them critically endangered.
The two-year-olds escaped throughout the free-flying portion of their day by day routine, the zoo mentioned in a press launch shared with The Washington Put up. The parrots have been educated to fly exterior their confines at the very least as soon as a day, returning at their keepers’ name, a follow that permits them to stretch their wings and exhibit their vibrant blue-and-yellow plumage to guests.
Their keepers imagine that the day they flew away, one thing had spooked them whereas they rested within the timber, prompting them to take off and head north, in response to extra particulars supplied by the zoo’s press workplace to The Put up on Tuesday.
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Zookeepers instantly started looking all through London for the sisters, involved by their youth and lack of publicity to the surface world — Margot and Lily had been born on the zoo and nonetheless lived with their dad and mom, Popeye and Ollie.
The zoo reached out to birdwatching communities “throughout the nation,” asking them to maintain an eye fixed out for the macaws, Jessica Fryer, the zoo’s workforce chief for penguins and flying birds, mentioned in a press release.
After receiving various ideas from Cambridgeshire, a county north of London, a household within the village of Buckden reported that they’d noticed the pair within the timber behind their backyard on Sunday, the zoo mentioned Tuesday. The zookeepers then requested for video of their fowl cry, and from that video, had been in a position to verify the sisters’ identities.
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However Margot and Lily fled their backyard hideaway earlier than the zookeepers may arrive. With the assistance of residents offering transport and native data of the realm, the zookeepers had been in a position to monitor them all the way down to a brand new location about 10 kilometres away, in Brampton, one other village in Cambridgeshire.
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It was right here that Margot and Lily recognized themselves by “instantly” flying down onto the outstretched arms of the zookeepers, the zoo mentioned within the press launch.
Each Margot and Lily appeared in good situation after their week away, the zoo mentioned, and had been handled to their favorite meals of pecans, walnuts and pumpkin seeds. They continue to be in quarantine at an on-site animal hospital, as is protocol, however look like their “typical loud, chirpy selves.”
“Their return couldn’t have come at a greater time, with the colder climate setting in,” Fryer mentioned. “It’s nice to see Lily and Margot again and as chatty as ever.”
Whereas the space travelled by Margot and Lily is just not implausible — at full velocity, macaws are in a position to fly as much as 55 km/h — the space was out of the strange for them. Following their journey, the zoo is targeted on ensuring the sisters are rested earlier than reuniting them with their dad and mom, the zoo mentioned.
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