Party-loving pet Alexandrine parrot reunited with family six days after wild storm
Ivy was playing with an empty beer can at the party she dropped in on. (Supplied: Maree Ussher)
In short:
Ivy the Alexandrine parrot chewed her way out of her aviary on Monday last week.
She survived violent storms and predators before dropping in on a party.
What's next?
Reunited with her human family, her aviary has been reinforced.
Lured in by shiny beer cans and a crowd, a party-loving pet parrot has been found safe, six days and 31 kilometres from where she disappeared in south-east Queensland.
The parrot's owners, Freya Erlandsson and Jack Tomkins, were distraught after Ivy, an Alexandrine parrot, chewed its way out of an aviary hours before a violent storm hit Gympie on Monday last week.
"Our birds are our babies. We can't live without them," Ms Erlandsson said.
"The rain and wind were so bad I thought there was no way Ivy would survive. I cried so much."
Freya Erlandsson and Ivy the Alexandrine parrot, waving a foot on her shoulder. (Supplied: Freya Erlandsson)
Days of desperate searches and lost parrot posts on Facebook followed.
Ms Erlandsson was starting to give up hope before the power of social media resulted in a happy reunion.
The pampered pet had survived predators, torrential rain, lightning, a heatwave, and cyclonic winds that tore down trees and cut power to tens of thousands of homes.
She had flown over bushland, beef cattle country, and macadamia and mango farms to Coondoo, bordered by the storm-battered Toolara State Forest and Great Sandy National Park.
The state of Toolara State Forest shows the ferocity of the storm that Ivy was lost in. (Supplied: John Clough Infinity Flights Photography)
On Saturday afternoon, Ivy dropped in on a party of 50 friends at Maree Ussher's farm.
"She flew straight in onto one of my male friend's shoulders, perched herself there, and just started trying to get into his can of beer," Ms Ussher said.
Ivy was provided with water and parrot-appropriate food.
"She just made herself completely welcome. Everybody had a lovely time with her, she loves people obviously."
Ivy and her friends in the aviary at home in Gympie. (Supplied: Freya Erlandsson)
Party parrot
Ivy has form as a party parrot.
It was how Ms Erlandsson initially adopted her three years ago, when the sociable escape artist crashed happy hour at a retirement village to steal wine and crackers.
A vet check linked her microchip to a rescue organisation that had closed.
Repeated attempts to find her original owners failed, and Ivy helped heal the couple's hearts after the loss of another beloved bird, Ollie.
Ivy rests on a table at the farm she flew to. (Supplied: Maree Ussher)
Community effort
Ms Erlandsson was not a member of any of the multiple Facebook groups Ms Ussher posted photos of Ivy on.
But within hours "10-20 people, strangers" had reached out to alert her and she headed to Coondoo, a place she had never heard of.
"I thought 'how could she have come that far?'" Ms Erlandsson said.
"The drive there is nothing but thick forests and farmland."
Ivy spent Saturday night safe in a caravan, but by the time her owner arrived the next day, she had staged another disappearing act, flying off.
Freya Andersson says Ivy loves people. (Supplied: Freya Erlandsson)
"It was looking grim. I was screaming out for her and didn't hear her at all,"Ms Erlandsson said.
Dejected, Ms Erlandsson headed towards home when Ms Ussher rang again.
By leaving out a shiny beer can and Jatz biscuits she successfully enticed Ivy back and secured the bird inside her home.
"The drive there was just pure excitement, just shock, I couldn't believe it," Ms Erlandsson said.
Ivy will get to celebrate another Christmas with her family. (Supplied: Freya Erlandsson)
Ivy was whistling and chirping hello when ABC Rural spoke to her grateful owner.
Ms Erlandsson thanked Ms Ussher and everyone who helped reunite her with her pet, who was happy to rejoin the rest of her feathered family.
"I still can't believe it. It's a miracle, a Christmas miracle,"Ms Erlandsson said.