On a wing and a prayer: Pitt Meadows family reunited with lost pet bird

It wasn't quite Homeward Bound, but a Pitt Meadows pet had an incredible journey of her own last week.

Ruby, the cockatiel, went missing Tuesday, and outside the safety of her home, faced flying through the city's predator-infested forests.

"We don't keep her caged, so she has free range of the house," owner John Clancy told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn. "She had landed on the hood of my hoodie. I didn't feel her land, so I went outside.

"As I sat down on a chair, she saw the backing of a chair coming to imminently squish her and decided to take flight.

"She circled at about 300 or 400 feet in the air we were calling to her and trying to prompt her back to ground level and then she proceeded to do what birds do: she flew."

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Clancy's family put up missing bird posters and used social media, but nothing worked.

After a few hours, Clancy felt like the whole thing was hopeless and his family's beloved pet was gone.

Was lucky to find help

Fortunately, over the next 48 hours, Ruby would fly more than 10 kilometres from home to find the one person who could definitely help her out: Adrian Walton, a veterinarian who works with birds and exotic animals.

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"I was coming home from work and was just pulling into the driveway when a bunch of neighbourhood children ran up to my truck and said, 'there's a bird in the tree! It's an extoic bird!'" he said.

"I go about 20 feet away from my driveway and look up in a tree and there is a yellow and grey cockatiel just sitting there.

"I get my wife out, pull out the cell phone and on my Facebook page, I say, hey, is anyone missing a cockatiel?"

Walton's Facebook video got tens of thousands of views and almost 1,000 shares.

Within 10 minutes, the combined social media efforts of the Clancys and Walton connected them, and Ruby was on her way home.

'Very grateful to have her back'

Walton says Ruby is a very lucky bird. She had no food, would have struggled with the cold and had an injury, likely the result of an encounter with a predator.

He says it's incredible she had the good fortune to run into a vet of all people.

"My wife says it's proof of a higher being. I say it's proof we live in the Matrix."

Clancy received hundreds of social media messages and phone calls from complete strangers who saw both his family's appeal and Walton's video and wanted to connect them.

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"I was absolutely dumbstruck by the kindness and concern of complete strangers who just wanted to reunite us with our bird."

Ruby has now rejoined her flock and couldn't be happier, Clancy says, but she's now a little more cautious of going near windows.

"She doesn't like the look of the outdoors right now. We're just very grateful to have her back."

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With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast