Two NYC strangers team up to help lost parakeet found on UWS in ‘small world’ moment
Birds of a feather flock together.
Two strangers living on the Upper West Side came together in a “small world” moment over the weekend to help a lost parakeet they found flapping around the neighborhood — with the hope that their teamwork will locate the bird’s owner.
Matt Schick said he did a “triple take” when he first saw the little green and yellow bird sitting in a tree outside his apartment window on West 87th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on Sunday evening.
“I realized this has to be a pet, so I opened the window and started playing parakeet sound effects through my phone to try and lure it in,” Schick told The Post on Tuesday.
Schick, a TV producer who has worked with parakeets before for a show, tried to coerce the bird out of the cold with cut-up almonds and a broomstick he hoped it would climb onto, but the bird flew away about half an hour later.
Still determined, he went out to the street to see if he could hear the bird’s “distinctive chirp.”
“I went outside and looked around. My doorman thought I was crazy, I was jumping around outside. I saw it fly from tree to tree, and ultimately, it flew into another building across the street, like smacking into a window,” Schick said.
Schick said he “assumed the worst” after the crash and went to bed disheartened after becoming so invested in getting the bird to safety.
“That night I was bummed, and the next morning I looked around and didn’t see anything,” he said. “I just happened to Google ‘NYC parakeet’ and the first thing that came up on Reddit was the same parakeet had been captured by someone two blocks away on 85th and Amsterdam.”
Schick then connected with Anna Kapyrina, who found the bird in distress on the ground about two hours after he had last seen it and posted about it on Reddit.
“He’s very cute,” Kapyrina told The Post on Tuesday about the bird, who she dubbed “Eagle” and is now soaring around her bedroom.
She and Schick posted about the missing bird on Facebook, NextDoor, Reddit and hyperlocal Upper West Side news sites — but she said they still have not had any luck locating the lost bird’s owner.
“I’m getting some calls, but not from the owners — most of the people are just asking to adopt him,” Kapyrina said.
“I’m actually thinking to probably have him adopted. I have a friend who loves parakeets. It’s been a few days at this point, and I feel like the owner probably would have been in touch by now,” said the trucking-company consultant. “If I lost a pet, I would be all over social media.
“I love fostering him — he’s a pretty bird. … He’s a free bird. I did get him a cage, but he’s free in my bedroom right now.
“But I have a cat who’s locked into another room right now, and I don’t think she wants to stay in there much longer,” Kapyrina said, referring to her 4-year-old feline, Mio.
She said she’ll hold out a little longer before allowing the bird to be adopted in case its owners are elderly and not on social media. She added that she would require proof of ownership before handing Eagle over.
Schick added of his and Kapyrina’s involvement, “To me, I was really excited that the power of the Internet immediately made this connection: Within 12 hours, I saw that this bird had been located and somebody had posted that they had found it — like that was just a crazy, strange, small-world Internet-in-New York City moment.”
Schick said he made “Located Parakeet” fliers that he has given to local vets and put up in the neighborhood.
“The little I know about parakeets, they definitely don’t belong outside on the streets of New York,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re just trying to find the owner of this little guy.”
-Additional reporting by Kate Sheehy
