When Georgie the macaw broke free during one of his daily outings in an Adelaide park, owner Lindie Roos feared the worst.
"I thought, 'This is it — he'll just keep flying and we'll never see him again,'" she said.
"The magpies were chasing him.
Ms Roos was distraught but remained composed and quickly mobilised a small army of helpers.
What followed was an emotional rollercoaster involving several chance encounters, a ground hunt, social media call-outs, a hawk-eyed passer-by and two other macaws.
The endeavour culminated with Ms Roos herself taking to the skies armed with a banana to try and lure the winged absconder back into her arms.
Georgie unchained
Georgie's escape occurred in Adelaide's north-east, along the banks of the River Torrens, on Wednesday morning.
"We walk him out every day along Linear Park on his harness, and you don't expect the harness to break," Ms Roos said.
When magpies swooped, the blue and gold eight-month-old was "spooked" and took flight.
After scouring the park, Ms Roos, who "couldn't sleep thinking he's out in the rain", returned for another search at first light on Thursday.
"I did contact a breeder and she suggested that they normally stay in the area within a kilometre radius," she said.
"We had flyers going up, we had posts on Lost Pets [of South Australia] and Lost Birds Adelaide, and all the people that normally walk their dogs there, by then they were all looking for Georgie."
Even then, all seemed lost — until Ms Roos got a phone call from a bird lover who lived near the park and had heard what sounded like a macaw.
"This lady was really good at recognising sounds," she said.
"We went back to the area where she heard him … [but] we couldn't see anything, we didn't hear anything."
Send a macaw to catch a macaw
It was then that Ms Roos had another idea — she called a friend who also kept macaws.
"She brought her macaws over thinking that if they make a noise maybe he'll reply," she said.
Even if they didn't lure Georgie, the coloured parrots caught the attention of a passer-by.
"He said, 'We just saw one not so long ago', and so, lo and behold, he was sitting up in the tree," Ms Roos said.
But it was far too high to contemplate any amateur rescue.
At that point, Ms Roos called the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS).
"We got a call for a bird rescue — a bird up a tree, which sounds a little bit funny to some people, but people do have pets and they do get stuck," Oakden Station officer Lee Constable told ABC Radio Adelaide's Sonya Feldhoff.
"The bird had actually got approximately 20 metres up a gum tree near the river."
With the help of a fire truck and its basket, Ms Roos and a firefighter were lifted into the canopy, where they dangled a fruity treat in an attempt to persuade Georgie to turn himself in.
"We were trying to coax it with a banana as well," Mr Constable said.
"He didn't fly to me like I thought he would," Ms Roos said.
With Ms Roos fearing that Georgie might again decamp, the firefighter "grabbed the harness that was still attached to him" and hauled the feathered escapee to safety.
"My gosh, I can't tell you how I thankful I am for these wonderful people," Ms Roos said.
Georgie will not be grounded
All's well that ends well, but Ms Roos said she had learned a lesson.
While she won't be clipping Georgie's wings – figuratively or literally – she said she was now contemplating "another design of harness".
"I believe he should fly, but we are changing harnesses, so we are going to change to a metal attachment that can't snap open," Ms Roos said.
