Most people know that when a small child says peek-a-boo, you play along, either pretending to be shocked or hiding your own face. But what happens when you’re trying to eat dinner on your patio and you hear the familiar phrase, except instead of turning to see a chubby toddler, there’s a bird? Safe to say that most people would turn back around and continue eating thinking they must’ve been mistaken.
One family in Florida did just that, but the “peek-a-boo” happened again, and the only culprit available was the bird behind them. Reed Schweizer, the man who found the bird, was probably questioning how strong his drink was at that moment.
“All of a sudden, I hear from behind me, ‘peek-a-boo’, with a cocktail in my hand. And I’m thinking to myself, birds don’t talk,” Schweizer told ABC7.
Turns out, the smart, rare Solomon Island Electus parrot named Tiki was lost and trying to find help to get back to his humans. It’s a good thing, too, because his humans missed him desperately and had been looking for the green fugitive for three days.
Brent Chadwell told ABC7 that Tiki comes and goes from his cage as he pleases so he can stretch his wings around the house. But this time, something was different. Chadwell believes that while his girlfriend was cleaning they didn’t realize the cage door was open, and Tiki decided to fly out an open window to tour the neighborhood. The couple looked everywhere for the bird and posted his picture on social media sites hoping that someone would’ve seen their extremely rare pet.
Sadly, Tiki didn’t come home, and for three days, the couple didn’t get any leads. That is until the normally squawking parrot decided to alert strangers that he was lost by playing peek-a-boo. To some, that may not seem impressive, but according to Tiki’s owner, the bird doesn’t know many words, and the words he did know he used to try to communicate with humans.
“That’s definitely Tiki’s way of telling them ‘I need help,'” Chadwell told ABC7. “He says ‘peek-a-boo,’ ‘tickle tickle tickle,’ ‘give me that foot,’ ‘come here,’ ‘hello’ and ‘hi.'”
Schweizer posted a photo of Tiki on Facebook asking if anyone lost their parrot, and 15 minutes later, Chadwell was brought to tears after seeing his bird’s picture. Tiki was safe.
Watch the incredible story below: