Neighbors join hunt for macaw on the lam from Stanton Heights home

The Steller’s sea eagle that escaped from the National Aviary isn’t the only exotic bird in the region on the lam.

Before Kodiak slipped out of a breach in its outdoor enclosure at the Aviary on the North Side Saturday morning there was Filo — a 3-month old macaw that escaped its perch from a home in Stanton Heights on Sept. 7.

“We didn’t think it was able to fly yet, so we didn’t clip its wings,” said Haedar Kadhim, the bird’s owner. “We’ve been trying everything we can to get him back home.”

Kadhim, who works for the city’s environmental services department, said other macaws and parrots his family has raised — including Filo’s parents Lulu and Cuckoo — did not attempt flight until they were at least six months old.

Filo was the only bird to hatch from the five eggs the bird couple produced.

Following the advice of experts at the Aviary, the family has been trying to lure the bright red, blue and green macaw back home using several techniques.

They regularly drive around the neighborhood with Filo’s parents in the bed of a pickup truck in the hopes the young bird will see them.

Kadhim’s wife Nuha also downloaded a YouTube recording of the distinct, piercing “caw” sound the birds emit and plays it on her car stereo while driving through the neighborhood.

Residents in Stanton Heights and Lawrenceville quickly took to social media to provide updates on the bird’s location and to offer suggestions on how he might be captured.

Filo has been spotted in the upper section of Allegheny Cemetery along Stanton Avenue, at the park off Hawthorne Street in Stanton Heights, in parts of Bloomfield and dozens of places in between.

Brandi Cugini of Morningside posted on the Nextdoor social media app that her family was able to lure its Mango bird from a tree after it was spooked by a lawnmower and flew off.

“We climbed about halfway up the tree with tree limbs duct taped to each other with his treats stuck to the end,” she wrote. “We finally lured him with his food and he climbed onto our branch we made and we carried him down as he was eating. It took 7.5 hours but we got him.”

Several neighbors reported seeing the bird munching berries and other fruit from trees.

“I’m happy that it is able to find some food to survive, but I’m worried that it is starting to turn cold,” Haedar Kadhim said. “Those kind of birds don’t like the cold.”

He said it is frustrating to see the bird so close to home but not be able to get back.

“The people at the Aviary told us that macaws aren’t very good at flying downward, so even if it wants to land on the ground it might not know how to do it,” he said. “We had a bird fly away a few years ago and never saw it again. We were OK with that, it was gone. But it’s hard to hear and see this bird outside and not be able to get him back.”

To help boost their chances of getting Filo back, the Kadhims recently placed a cage with food and the bird’s favorite shiny play toys in a wooded area where it has been spotted a number of times by neighbors.

“I caught two birds in the cage, but not ours,” Nuha Kadhim.

Her husband said while the family is hoping for a reunion with Filo, they are beginning to accept that it might not happen.

“Maybe we will be lucky and get it back,” he said. “But if not, his parents are together so we will have some new eggs soon.”