Lost budgies reunited in Grade 4 class

A group of Yellowknife Grade 4 students brought about a "romantic" reunion between two lost lovebirds this week.

Last week, students at J.H. Sissons school found a lost yellow budgie in their playground and adopted it until the owner could be found.

They were also on the lookout for a green budgie they heard was also lost in the city, believing the two to be a pair. The students were taking the yellow budgie outdoors in a cage every day to try and attract the green one.

Over the weekend, a woman who had heard the media coverage about the bird spotted it in her backyard, caught it and brought it to the SPCA.

Teacher Yolande Allain went to the SPCA with the yellow budgie, whom the class has named Coquette, to see if the two birds knew each other.

"I went in with the yellow bird in the cage, and I put her on the counter, and the vet came in with the green bird in a cage and put them next to each other," she said.

"And as soon as we did that they started chirping away. It was just as if they were talking to each other. It was so sweet."

The vet then put the green budgie in the same cage as the yellow one.

"Instantly they connected," said Allain. "It was like they were kissing each other or hugging each other, just picking at each other with their beaks. It was actually romantic, if that makes any sense at all."

But before bringing the pair back to the school, Allain laid down some ground rules with her students.

"We had a chat about how we're going to take care of them, how we should behave around them and they're not to distract us from our schoolwork — we're here to learn and this is a school," she said.

"And the birds have lost their owners, so if we're going to take care of them, we better take care of them well."

So far the budgies’ adventures have provided a wealth of inspiration for the students’ efforts in creative writing, in addition to a dose of excitement.

"Before when the yellow bird was alone, it was sort of like toast without butter," said student Benjamin Schubert, 10. "But now that the two birds have been reunited, it’s sort of like toast and butter."

Allain said she will continue to take them to school every day and home with her at night.

"The birds will stay with us here until the end of the year and hopefully the owners will step forward," said Allain. "And if not, well I guess Sissons has adopted two birds."