Streatham parrot who went missing looking for love is found on Mitcham Common (From Streatham Guardian)

Streatham parrot who went missing looking for love is found on Mitcham Common

4:59pm Tuesday 13th October 2009 in News By Matt Watts

A lovesick parrot who went missing looking for a mate has been found safe and sound - but still single.

The owners of Princess Parity, an African Grey parrot, were wracked with worry when she flew out of her home in Streatham High Road on September 17 to chase a flock of parakeets at the height of the mating season.

They even offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to her discovery.

Owners Stephen Kendall-Lane, 63, and his wife Fiona, 59, were reunited with her last Thursday on the Sussex coast.

She had been sent to a birdkeeper by a Coulsdon bird rescue charity after being discovered on Mitcham Common on September 20.

Mr Kendall-Lane said: "It was so wonderful to see her again. We were beginning to lose hope. She flew over to see us and gave me a kiss when she arrived."

But Mr Kendall-Lane said it was only a “massive slice of luck” that meant they were reunited - and as a result is thinking of setting up his own parrot rescue service.

Currently only rescue centres within a few miles radius of the animal’s address are contacted if they go missing, he said.

Because Princess Parity had flown beyond this radius, it was only because someone living in Woodfield Avenue, Streatham, had seen a poster about the missing bird, and had a friend at the rescue service in Coulsdon, his pretty polly was tracked down.

He said: "These birds have the intelligence of a six-year-old child. Imagine how traumatised a child would be after going missing for that length of time."

The £1,000 reward was split between the bird rescue charity and the Woodfield Avenue resident who tipped him off.

But he said he was still getting calls about another African Grey identical to Princess Parity still being spotted on Tooting Bec Common, believed to be called Rio and having flown from Wembley.