Gulliver's travels take macaw on long strange odyssey

The macaw Gulliver playfully nips the nose of Sybil Erden, his rescuer, of the Oasis Sanctuary in Arizona Photo: HOWARD LIPIN / Union-TribuneAfter a shipwreck, arrest and quarantine, a blue and gold macaw's transoceanic odyssey appeared to be over Thursday with his safe release from a U.S. Department of Agriculture station in Otay Mesa.

Gulliver left California in December on a 48-foot catamaran with his owners and their dog Snickers. They ran aground near Fanning, a tiny island 1,000 miles south of Hawaii, and the family managed to swim ashore with their pets.

But the animals had to be left behind when the family left on a cargo vessel, according to news reports. Word got out about the animals' plight in March through a boating journal, and a man from Las Vegas came forward to adopt the animals.

He could only bring the dog in. It turns out that as a macaw, Gulliver is a threatened species, and his transport is regulated by international convention.

When Gulliver tried to enter nearby Christmas Island from Fanning, he was detained by agricultural officials, said Sybil Erden, who runs an Arizona bird rescue organization and took up Gulliver's cause. By Erden's account, Gulliver saved his own life by squawking a single word: “Hello!”

Until Gulliver spoke, his new hosts had not only praised his fiery gold belly and fluorescent aqua wings but they had speculated on how he would taste, Erden said. Gulliver charmed them, and they took care of him until Erden could arrange his journey back to the United States.

Gulliver arrived a month ago and was held in quarantine in the USDA Veterinary Services building near the Otay Mesa border crossing. He was swabbed and tested for disease and then cleared to go.

Erden arrived at the building yesterday and walked out with Gulliver on her left shoulder. He affectionately wrapped his hooked beak around her nose and bobbed up and down as he examined his new surroundings.

He had only one word of comment: “Hello!”

Gulliver will be feted Saturday at Pepper Grove in Balboa Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Sunday, he will set out with Erden on a seven-hour drive back to the Oasis Sanctuary, where he'll live for what could be another 75 years.

Although he will serve as a spokesparrot for birds in need of adoption, Erden said, Gulliver's future will be placid and boring.

“He's going to be a bird again,” she said.