Missing bird in the Pacific Northwest..

[acacia1317]

Earlier today I came home and was horrified to discover that one of my zebra finch cages had been knocked over and the cage door had been flung open. I found my male perched on a shelf and was able to catch him and return him to his cage. His mate has been missing for the past few hours and our outside door was open when I came home as well as the doors to a few other rooms. We have multiple cats, but I have found no traces of feathers or blood inside or outside of the house, indicating that it isn't likely that she was caught (although I'm not totally ruling it out). I was wondering if anyone has any advice; I live on the Oregon coast and I know that the weather here probably wouldn't allow her to survive long outdoors. We experience a lot of wind and rain this time of year. I'm wondering if she was just traumatized and hiding out somewhere in my bedroom - I closed the door and left the male alone thinking that he might be able to lure her out if that were the case. If she did indeed get outside, has anyone heard of finches returning home? I'm very attached to my birds and the one female that went missing in particular and feel horrible, any advice that anyone has to offer would be enormously appreciated.

[Sally]

So sorry this has happened to you and your birds. I once lost two birds due to not fastening a breeding door properly--I put them in the front door, and then they went out the breeding door. Never saw them again. If you have an extra cage, you can try putting it outside with doors fastened open and some seed and spray millet inside. If she is inside, she will be drawn to the other cages.

[Hilary]

I hope that she's still inside! As Sally said, if she is she'll probably be drawn to the other finches. I'd leave some food and water on top of the cage just in case. Check bookshelves, the top of cabinets, tops of windows and light fixtures - mine always seem to settle there when they get out of their cages. Look for telltale poops that would indicate that she is flying around the house. I've got my fingers crossed for you!

[acacia1317]

Thanks for the advice, as it so happens, I do have an extra cage lying around. Do you think that if she did escape outdoors, she'd stick around the area? I'll put some seed out on my other cages as well as outside, but I'm hoping she's just scared and hiding out somewhere as it seems like a lot of effort for her to have escaped outside and I didn't see any evidence that she was caught by a cat.

[B CAMP]

I think the cage outside by the door is a good idea. I am in the process of painting a large flight cage and yesterday I saw a finch of some kind hanging on the side of cage ,I think it was someones pet it flew off before I could tell what it was I have millet and water in there now
Good luck with yours.

[cindy]

You can try this, take you cage with you male in it and place it by an open window, if she is near by, he will call to her and she may find her way back. You can even place him in a shaded area outside, with you supervision, if he calls for her she may fly to him.

Check behind everything, like washers (inside to, toilets) wall units. she may have hit the wall and slid down, under anything, it is amazing what they can get into. Check the tops of curtains, we had one hiding between the two rods of layered drapes and sheers.

Good luck.

[JohnBoy]

Cindy gives good advice. Everytime I had a zebra escape they always stick around and I find them trying to get back in the cage. What I do is set up a cage and leave the door open put food and water and a wicker nest in the cage. The bird that escaped always went in the cage to eat and drink and in the evenings the bird would go into the nest to sleep. Thats when I would sneak up on the cage and close the door. Finch captured. It works for me.