Parrot found in wheat field steered combine harvester

Two farming contractors who picked up an exotic bird in a wheat field where stunned after it started steering their combine harvester. Mark Wells and Andrew Barber, both 40, from George E Gittus & Sons, stumbled upon a macaw when they were busy combining near Chevington, West Suffolk, last Friday. The pair jumped off their vehicle and were surprised to see the macaw among the stalks, which they assumed must be a lost pet. They lifted the bird into the cab of their combine and started up the engine.

Mark and Andrew were then amazed when the bird sat on Andrew’s lap and clamped hold of the wheel in his beak – and started steering. The creature directed the combine all the way across the field and back to the farmers’ truck. Mark said: “Andrew saw the parrot before I did and I thought he’d gone mad when he said there was a multicoloured bird in the field. The macaw tried to steal the combine harvester. He latched onto Andrew’s leg and wouldn’t let go like he was trying to pull him off the combine.



“We picked it up and got him onto the combine harvester with us. We managed to get him off Andrew’s leg and onto his lap. He then latched his beak onto the steering wheel and refused to let go for twenty minutes as we drove around the field. Andrew took his hands off the steering wheel and let Rio steer us. We were in hysterics and just couldn’t stop laughing. Andrew has been saying he wants a hands free for a while – maybe now he’s found it. We got to try parrot steering instead of power steering.”

The macaw was spotted in the evening at around 5pm as Mr Barber and Mr Andrews were finishing up for the day at the farm. He stayed with Mark and his family at their home in Horringer, Suffolk, from Friday until Monday – where he was given their spare room. Mark then took the exotic bird, which was not microchipped but does have a ring, to a vet to be checked over, then handed him to a specialist breeder in the area who has an aviary while they try and track down its owner.