Nova is Missing in Santa Clara, CA

Description

Mostly white with a little blue on the bottom and black spots on the back

Message from Owner

***** $200 REWARD ***** On July 10, 2025 my parakeet Nova accidentally flew outside and is still missing. Nova was very special, so special that I am offering a $200 reward for her safe return home. On July 10 and 11, 2025 I could hear but not see her high up in some tall redwood trees in the condo complex on Judro Way. She was spotted once since then on July 14, 2025 in a backyard in Santa Clara about 3 miles away near the intersection of Main Street and Fremont Street where she was socializing with the wild birds, eating their food and drinking their water. Photos from the July 14 sighting in Santa Clara provided positive identification. Since then her whereabouts have been unknown. Nova has an infatuation with doves that all of her companions share and gets very excited when seeing any. Her mate Sparky, usually very noisy all day became quiet and passive most of the time for about the next 2 weeks. After that he has gradually started to become more active again, giving more attention to the remaining 2 female companions. He has always been very good at and continues grooming the other females. Nova was lost not because she was unhappy with her home here or wanted to escape, but because of a panic reaction to a sudden explosive mass exodus of doves visible to her in the backyard due to the appearance of a hawk that was terrorizing the neighborhood. In the 30+ years that I have been adopting and caring for parakeets, she was the happiest one I have ever known. She had found her perfect indoor 24/7 free-flying flock here and never before in the 2+ years that she was here did she ever try to escape. On the contrary, Nova, like all of the other parakeets that have lived here, quite deliberately always flew away from any door whenever I went to open it. It was a tragic coincidence of events when I opened the entry door to the attached garage while carrying in bags from grocery shopping. A dove explosion occurred just as I was opening the door and frightened Nova into fluttering around near the top of the door. In a short few seconds of ultimate shock, I saw her flutter out the open entry door past me and through the raised outside garage door. It happened so fast there wasn't time to react effectively to stop her. In just an instant, her entire world fell apart, she lost all of her companions and her entire little flock was irreparably disrupted. That was in the evening and I could hear her a few minutes later up in a redwood tree just outside my front door crying out to the rest of her flock, trying to get a response for a while but not for very long as sunset was approaching. She was disoriented, unable to recognize her home from outside and couldn’t find her way back again. And I had nothing prepared yet to try to bring her back in. The next day early in the afternoon I heard her again from the backyard crying out from high up in another redwood tree. But again I couldn't see her. At that time I had already set up a spare cage in the backyard with the top removed and with her familiar food and water in familiar appearance food and water cups. But that failed to attract her. To make matters worse, the hawk that started the events leading to her loss was still terrorizing the area that second day too. The presence of the hawk also caused her companions to hide silently so they didn't respond to her, obviously taking the hawk and wild bird reactions as a vital threat and trying to avoid calling attention to themselves. That was probably why Nova left the neighborhood quickly since she was spotted 3 days later about 3 miles away in Santa Clara and was obviously able to avoid the hawk. I relive this nightmare in my mind every day and find it difficult to reconcile that it could have been avoided if I had already been following the resulting new rule that I now have that both the garage inside entry door and outer door must never be open at the same time. That simple change prevented Sparky from also being lost a few days later as he was fluttering around the same inside entry door just as I opened it, just like a nearly identical instant replay. But when he saw that the outer door was closed and there was nowhere to go other than the inside of the garage, he turned around and flew back the other way. With Nova my little flock of 4 was complete. Without her it no longer is complete. She brought uniquely enthusiastic high energy to the flock. She was also a very strong singer, very unusual for a female, and rivaled her mate Sparky. Often she even exceeded him so that he would stop and listen while she did the singing. They all miss her as much as I do and have been much quieter and less active since then. In particular Sparky was the most affected by her loss. Usually exploding with energy and chasing Nova around everywhere and playing with her, he immediately became quiet and passive. Sparky has gradually started to accept the loss and is more active now sometimes but nowhere near as happy and energetic as he was with with her. After 3 months now, I know there is almost no chance of my finding her again unless someone else has found her and was able to take her in. So I am offering a $200 reward for her safe return home. We all very much want her back where she belongs in the free-flying home that she enjoyed so much for more than 2 years and found her flock and perfect mate. They make it so easy to fall in love with them. Then when they go they take your heart with them.