photo by Jenny Peterson

“Birds are great pets. They give lots of love,” said Summerville resident Mark Wyckoff. His beloved bird “Sunny” went missing for two days, but a little luck and the kindness of strangers helped bring him home.

photo by Jenny Peterson

Jen, a manager at the Pet Smart at Azalea Square, helped revive Sunny when he was brought into the store.

Sunny, a brilliantly colored orange and green Conure Parrot, stands on his owner Mark Wyckoff’s shoulder, whistling as he walks back and fourth from side to side.

The bird comfortably rides on Mark’s hand through their downtown Summerville home, and when asked, Sunny even gives his owner a kiss.

The day after Valentine’s Day, Sunny accidentally flew out the front door and across Main Street. Mark and his wife, Pat, frantically went out looking for their beloved pet and saw him perched in a tree 150 feet high.

“He would not come down, he was so disoriented,” Mark said. “We looked up again and he was gone.”

The Wyckoffs looked for Sunny all day long the next day.

“I was blubbering (crying) that first day when his cage was empty,” Mark said. “It killed us.”

After two days, it looked hopeless for the 3-year-old indoor bird. He was outside in the cold, away from his cage in the living room, and his six bird friends.

Yet, thanks to the kindness of Summerville residents and a whole lot of luck, Sunny is now back on Mark’s shoulder, back to his chirpy self.

After his two-day whirlwind trip through Summerville, Sunny ended up in the parking lot of Azalea Square.

One late morning, a resident named Traci noticed that cars in front of her in the parking lot were swerving around something, and she spotted Sunny’s bright colors in the road.

“The car in front of me almost hit him,” Traci said. “I saw him try and flap his wings to get to the bushes.”

Although she isn’t a “bird person,” per se, she pulled over, grabbed a jacket from her car, blocking traffic as she wrapped Sunny up in it.

Traci immediately drove across the lot to the PetSmart at Azalea Square, which sells birds like Sunny.

“I knew he had to be someone’s bird,” Traci said. “You don’t just see a bird like that on the side of the road.”

Jen, the manager of PetSmart — who has several pet birds herself — came to Sunny’s rescue by building him a “homemade hospital” out of a heating pad, plastic pet container and a warm blanket.

“He was lethargic; his eyes were barely open, but he was alive — he was gripping my finger,” Jen said.

She hand-fed him baby bird formula with a syringe. He was very cold and had a cut near his eye, but otherwise he seemed OK.

“After an hour (of attention), he perked up and started making (bird) calls,” Jen said. “He was just as sweet as he could be.”

Jen noticed how friendly Sunny was, and figured he was someone’s pet. He was looked at by a veterinarian, and was given a clean bill of health.

Jen started making phone calls to members of local bird clubs asking if anyone was missing a Conure Parrot.

The answer came from an unlikely place, and in quite a coincidental way.

Jen told her best friend about the bird, who in turn, told her mother, who happens to work with Sunny’s owner Pat Wyckoff.

Pat wasn’t one to bring personal problems to work, Mark said. But, one day, she was so upset about her lost pet that she told her co-workers about it. That’s when she was told about a bird rescued at PetSmart.

“We said, ‘it’s got to be him,’” Mark said.

The Wyckoffs walked into the store with tears in their eyes.

Jen greeted the couple and asked, “Is this your baby?”

“Sunny recognized us,” Mark said.

Jen said Pat’s legs buckled. “I thought she was going to fall out,” Jen said. “It was a happy, emotional day.”

At his home several weeks later — with Sunny on his shoulder — Mark is still grateful to everyone involved with saving his favorite pet’s life.

Traci said she doesn’t consider herself a hero; she just thinks Sunny is a very lucky bird.

“I’m an animal person,” Traci said. “I brake for squirrels.”

Contact Jenny Peterson at 873-9424 ext. 216 or JPeterson@journalscene.com.

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