A performing parrot flew the coop in Brooklyn on Monday, sending its desperate owner on a wild goose chase.
Owner, professional bird trainer and parrot enthusiast Michael Sazhin is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who could help find “Truman” and bring him home.
“I’ve done everything I can, made up fliers, posted on Facebook and the whole parrot community has been very helpful,” Sazhin told The Post on Tuesday.
Four-year-old Truman went missing at 11 a.m. Monday when he and Sazhin were out for a walk near a park at 16th Avenue and 75 Street in Dyker Heights. That’s when Truman flew off northeast down 16th Avenue and hasn’t been seen since.
Sazhin said he believed Truman is within a mile of his home and the park, but that’s still a difficult search.
“It’d be like a needle in the haystack, if we could locate him within one, two or three blocks,” Sazhin said.
The trainer regularly takes Truman out to the park to fly. He normally wings it for up to 200 feet, before coming back on command.
He’s never flown away, according to Sazhin.
The 350-gram Truman is considered small for parrot, about the size of a pigeon, and has a large beak, short tail and streaks of orange on his wings and near his feet.
The bird trainer said if Truman lands on anyone’s shoulder, don’t freak out — just give him water, bread or vegetables, scratch his beak and call Sazhin at (917) 318-6394.
Truman has a limited vocabulary but can say “hey cutie” and “give me kiss.”
“He’s so friendly and not people shy. He’d probably just land on your shoulder and if you put out your finger, he’d go to it,” Sazhin said.
“Don’t try to catch him with a towel or a net. That’d freak him out. Just treat him like a pet, bring him inside and call me.”
Truman is probably very hungry, thirsty and confused.
“The only way he knows how to get food is to do tricks and please people,” his owner said. “I don’t know about his survival skills.”
Sazhin has been searching all over the neighborhood, bringing along female parrot Kili, who has known Truman his whole life and could entice the bird brain’s return.
Kili has performed on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Steve Harvey” and “America’s Got Talent,” while Truman has always been the understudy backstage.
“He’s [Truman] tried out for all of them. He’s been the understudy,” Sazhin said. “It’s good because she [Kili] knows she’s got competition. I’m sad to say this is most attention Truman has ever received and it’s not for reasons I’d like.”
Truman can shake his head, flap his wings, roll and retrieve a ball on command.