Featured Image Credit: NBC News
Topics: US News, UK News, Animals, World News
Lucy Devine
A British parrot who went missing for four years was reunited with its owner - but there was something very different about the bird when he returned.
It turns out that after initially speaking with a British accent, Nigel the parrot was able to learn Spanish, too.
The happy reunion came about back in 2014 when a vet from Southern California mistook Nigel for her own missing parrot.
After discovering the bird was not her own, Teresa Micco tracked Nigel's microchip and located his owner, Darren Chick.
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Darren lived in Torrance but is originally from the UK.
"I introduced myself and said, 'Have you lost a bird?'" Teresa told the Torrance Daily Breeze.
"He initially said, 'No'. But he thought I meant recently."
Teresa then verified Darren's name and explained that a woman named Julia Sperling had found the missing parrot.
"He looked at me like I was crazy," she said.
Darren then explained that Nigel had gone missing four years prior, and was shocked to learn he now speaks in Spanish.
Reuniting with Nigel was hugely emotional, with Darren admitting that he teared up when he learned Nigel had returned.
"He's doing perfect," said Darren. "It's really weird. I knew it was him from the minute I saw him."
Speaking about discovering the parrot, Julia explained: “He was the happiest bird. He was singing and talking without control. He was barking like the dogs.
"I'm from Panama and he was saying, 'What happened?' in Spanish."
However, after the story hit the headlines over 10 years ago, a family reached out to Darren, explaining that they believed Nigel could be a parrot they had bought from a garage sale a few years prior.
Turns out that while Nigel was missing, he'd made a brand new family, who called him Morgan.
The family explained they were heartbroken after he'd flown away earlier that month.
The Torrance Daily Breeze explained that after chatting with Liza Smith - who said her grandparents had bought the bird - Darren agreed to return Nigel to the family who had looked after him during the years he was missing.
Smith explained that Nigel had learned Spanish from her Guatemalan-born grandfather.
“We’re just over the moon,” Smith told the newspaper, adding that Nigel and her grandfather have a very 'special bond'.
“My grandma passed away about two years ago, and he is one of the last mementos for my grandpa,” she said.
“Morgan’s loss has been hard on him. They have a very special bond."