Zoo's parrot gets lost during flying exercise, turns up outside home

May 18 (UPI) -- A macaw parrot from a Rhode Island zoo got carried away by high winds during a flying exercise and turned up on a power line outside a home a few miles away from the facility.

Vicki Scharfberg, a spokeswoman for the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, said the three macaws were allowed to fly free Wednesday as part of their normal training.

"This is a very normal part of their training -- it is not an escape," Scharfberg told Patch. "They are athletes; they'll likely be out flying again either today or tomorrow and learned from their experience."

Scharfberg said high winds put a wrinkle into the exercise.

"They know their way home but the high winds got them outside their usual flight area and so they went for a bigger fly," Scharfberg said.

She said the birds traveled about 4-5 miles.

One of the parrots ended up perched on a power line outside Julia Bedard's Cranston home.

Bedard detailed in a TikTok video how she spotted the bird, identified as Rainier, on the line outside her house and contacted the zoo.

A crew from the zoo soon arrived on the scene to take Rainier home.

Scharfberg said the other two macaws were also safely located and returned to the facility.