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Westchester Family's Lost Bird Found Miles From Home During HS Practice

A Northern Westchester woman had nearly given up hope of ever finding her family's beloved pet bird when she received a call that the cockatiel had interrupted a local high school team's practice. 

Stormi the cockatiel during the ride home after he was found

Stormi the cockatiel during the ride home after he was found

Photo Credit: Jen Lieberman
Stormi was located at John Jay High School in Cross River.

Stormi was located at John Jay High School in Cross River.

Photo Credit: Jen Lieberman
A photo of Stormi before Friday, April 1

A photo of Stormi before Friday, April 1

Photo Credit: Jen Lieberman

Katonah resident Jen Lieberman had her pet cockatiel, Stormi, on her shoulder while standing at her front door on Friday, April 1, when the bird suddenly took off into the sky.

"He takes off," she said. "And he's flying so fast and so high, like up as high as the tallest trees in the neighborhood, and I take off running, and the kids are hysterical. It's everything you can imagine."

Lieberman said she and her family were able to track Stormi for about two blocks, and then they lost sight of him. They spent the remainder of the evening searching for him throughout the neighborhood.

Lieberman said she made a post on the Katonah People Facebook page, hoping that someone might spot the cockatiel.

She said she and her family were worried they would never see their pet again due to the bad weather on Friday. 

"It was so cold, and it was so windy," she said. "We were up at night wondering, 'is Stormi okay? Where is he?'"

Then on Saturday, April 2, Lieberman received a call that Stormi had been found during a girls lacrosse practice at John Jay High School in Cross River.

The bird had traveled 6.3 miles from Lieberman's house. She said she was told that while the girls were warming up on the field, Stormi had circled overhead and landed on a girl's shoulder. 

Someone realized it was the same pet who had been reported missing in the Facebook group, and called Lieberman.

Lieberman said she's so thankful to the community for helping look for Stormi and to the girls on the team for finding him. 

She said she doesn't believe Stormi would've made it through another night in the cold, and when he arrived home he was chirping and eating a lot of seeds.

"If only he could talk to us and tell us about his adventure," she said. 

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