Sophia Takes a Beach Holiday

Missing macaw found 80 miles from home

July 13, 2007

CLIFFSIDE PARK, N.J. --A pet macaw that flew away from its owners and went missing last weekend turned up alive and well in a most unlikely place -- 80 miles away at the Jersey shore.

Robert Daly, 25, said he was driving near his home Thursday night when he spotted the large blue and gold bird sitting quietly by the side of the road.

He called police, who captured the bird and put it into a box. Officers who had seen news reports about the bird's disappearance notified the owner, Rosalie O'Hara, and the two were reunited Friday.

"I knew it was Sophie," O'Hara told The Record of Bergen County. "She did some little shakes and gestures, and I knew it was her."

Sophia had vanished last Saturday after O'Hara's husband lost his grip on the bird while the couple were out for a walk.

The couple had been looking frantically since then and posted a $5,000 reward.

O'Hara said she is mystified how the bird, which she had raised indoors from a chick, was able to survive so long in the wild and travel 80 miles north of its Seaside Park home.

"I never thought I'd get her, I swear," O'Hara said.

O'Hara said she had contacted Daly to let him know he was entitled to the reward.