Lost cockatiel spoke to owners on phone

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GWERSYLLT, Wales, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A Gwersyllt, Wales, woman who found a missing cockatiel said the bird uttered its first words in her care when she put it on the phone with its owners.

Sue Hill said the cockatiel perched on her shoulder in Bellevue Park and she immediately contacted the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to animals, which informed her that a bird had been reported missing from David Edwards' home 2 miles from the park, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

"I was given a phone number for the man, Mr. Edwards, but I wanted to be sure he was the actual owner," Hill said. "I called and spoke to his wife who told me her pet was called Smokey and asked me to put him on the phone. As soon as he heard her voice, he stopped chirping and began saying 'Smokey,' it was very funny. That was the first time the bird had spoken and it was then I was sure that he belonged to them."

David Edwards told The Daily Telegraph he was "over the moon" to have his pet back at home after it went missing during the weekend.