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 outside of their apartments — with the hope that their teamwork will locate the bird’s owner.
Matt Schick said that he did a “triple take” when he first saw the little green and yellow bird sitting on a tree outside his apartment window on 87th Street and Amsterdam Avenue 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 outside to try and 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 few 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, who found the bird in distress on the ground about two hours after he had last seen it and posted about it on Reddit.
“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,” he said.
While Anna happily took the parakeet under her wing, giving it enough food, water and care to get it back on its feet by Tuesday, both she and Schick are determined to find its rightful owner.
By Monday, the new friends posted about the missing bird on Facebook, NextDoor, Reddit and hyperlocal Upper West Side news sites — but still have not had any luck locating the lost bird’s family.
Schick said he even made “Located Parakeet” flyers 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.”