Video shows the moment critically endangered parrots that escaped from London Zoo were recovered by zookeepers more than 60 miles away in Cambridgeshire.
The blue-throated macaws - sisters named Lily and Margot - went missing during a routine flight at the north London zoo last Monday (October 21).
Following a major search for the birds, which are thought to be two of only around 300 alive today, they were found in Cambridgeshire on Sunday morning and safely returned to the zoo.
Video shows the moment a team of zookeepers coaxed one of the birds down from where they had been found, perched high in the canopy of trees in the village of Brampton, about 20 miles north-west of Cambridge.
The footage shows a zookeeper standing below the trees with one arm raised in the air, trying to encourage one of the macaws to swoop down and land on it.
The large bird - named Margot - soon flew down to the keeper’s arm, where she was fed pumpkin seeds, pecans and walnuts.
The zookeeper was filmed carrying the bird over to a cage, asking if she was “super hungry” and commenting that she looked “really good” despite having been missing in the wild for almost a week.
Another keeper could be hear cheering as Margot was placed inside a cage joining Lily, who had already been safely rescued.
A London Zoo spokesperson described the birds as being “in good condition and their usual loud, chirpy selves”, though they were “a little tired” from their long flight.
A family in Buckden, a few miles from Brampton, had searched online for reports of missing birds, after spotting the large parrots with vibrant blue-and-yellow plumage in trees behind their garden.
The birds had already flown off by the time zookeepers could arrive, but with the help of locals they followed the birds to a field off a public footpath in Brampton where they were eventually rescued.
The birds were placed into quarantine at London Zoo, before being reunited with their parents Popeye and Ollie.
The family make up the only four blue-throated macaws at London Zoo. The birds are deemed “critically endangered” and are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
The IUCN estimates there are between around 200 and 300 mature blue-throated macaws alive today, living in northern Bolivia.
A London Zoo spokesperson thanked people “across the country” for helping with its search, and with Lily and Margot’s safe return.
