Another nice little story from CNN:
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - Fred the parakeet has returned home four years after flying away. The bird with the chipped beak recently was reunited with its owner, 11-year-old Aaron Edwards of Parkersburg.
"Aaron prayed every weekend, and I finally said to him, 'He ain't coming home.' That was three weeks ago,'' said Aaron's father, Mike. "Man, did I ever eat my words."
Fred flew away when Edwards took him to his used car lot in Parkersburg.
Ever since, Edwards, who also drives a tow truck, has asked customers from the area if they had seen a green bird.
Several of them spotted such a bird at their feeders and one was seen in a junkyard.
The family then set up cameras at feeders hoping to catch of glimpse of Fred. But hopes grew dim as the winters passed.
On Friday, Kenny Balderson, a friend of Edwards', saw Fred at his Pettyville home. He called the bird by name and it flew down to him.
"What, Fred,'' the bird told Balderson.
When Balderson telephoned that day with the news, Edwards thought it was a cruel joke.
"I didn't believe it until he showed up at the door,'' he said.
As Balderson entered the home with the bird, Edwards said, "Is that really Fred?'' The bird then climbed up and snuggled to his chin.
The years have made Fred a kinder bird.
"He used to bite everybody he didn't like,'' Aaron Edwards said. "He's really mellowed down now.''
And after four years of eating from bird feeders, Fred has lost his craving for french fries and candy.
"(It) used to be he would tear it up, but now all he wants to eat is bird food,'' Mike Edwards said.
Information from: The Parkersburg News
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