TAMPA, Fla. — A mystery bird flew into a Tampa workplace Tuesday, apparently picked a favorite employee and settled in for the day.
Now a corner of the internet is trying to figure out where it belongs.
A Reddit user posted photos of the green bird to the r/Tampa community after it showed up near Florida and Fletcher avenues.
The poster said the bird had been “hanging out with my coworker all day” and appeared especially comfortable with that employee.
Two red bands visible around the bird’s legs raised another question for the workers: Is somebody in Tampa looking for it?
Reddit quickly went to work.
Within hours, users were checking missing-bird posts, suggesting lost-pet databases and trying to connect the bird with people searching for their own feathered escape artists.
At least one potential reunion has already happened.
It wasn’t the right bird.
A woman came to see if the bird was hers
One Reddit user spotted a possible match to a previously reported missing bird and passed the information along.
The person who created the post contacted the woman.
She came to the workplace to see the bird in person.
No match.
The search continued.
The poster said coworkers also began checking Nextdoor and messaging people who had recently reported missing birds. Another employee contacted a bird sanctuary, although that call apparently did not immediately solve the mystery.
The bird, meanwhile, seemed content to stay close to one particular coworker.
The poster later told commenters that when they entered the office to take pictures, the bird immediately hopped onto that employee’s shoulder.
That friendly behavior led several commenters to suspect the bird had experience around people.
But there is one complication.
Tampa Bay already has wild green parrots
Several Reddit users identified the visitor as a Nanday conure, also commonly called a Nanday parakeet.
That identification has not been independently confirmed by an avian veterinarian or wildlife expert.
It would, however, make sense geographically.
The Audubon Field Guide says escaped Nanday parakeets established feral populations in the Tampa Bay area decades ago. They are bright green birds with distinctive black coloring across the head and face.
The World Parrot Trust likewise notes that Florida has a feral population numbering in the hundreds.
That means seeing a Nanday parakeet flying around Tampa does not necessarily mean someone just lost a pet.
The mystery bird’s apparent comfort around humans and the bands on its legs, however, have given the workers enough reason to keep looking.
Leg bands aren’t definitive proof of private ownership, either. Bird bands can be used for different purposes, including identification and research. The U.S. Geological Survey operates a national program for reporting banded wild birds.
For now, the bird’s history remains exactly that: a mystery.
Online reaction: Reddit turns into a bird detective squad
The r/Tampa thread attracted dozens of responses and more than 80 upvotes within its first day.
Some users searched neighborhood apps for possible matches. Others pointed the workers toward Facebook lost-bird groups, Nextdoor and bird-rescue organizations.
There were also inevitable jokes.
When somebody suggested the bird’s two red bands might mean it was under some form of avian house arrest, the original poster played along, joking that they had left the alleged fugitive alone with their coworker.
That quickly produced more bird-themed legal jokes.
Other commenters were more focused on getting the animal home, including one who noted that somewhere in west-central Florida, someone could be badly missing a pet.
The failed reunion only seemed to make commenters more determined to find another potential match.
How lost-bird searches work
Hillsborough County recommends that people searching for lost pets use neighborhood apps and social media in addition to contacting shelters and rescue organizations. Its lost-and-found pet guidance specifically points residents toward services including Nextdoor, Ring’s Neighbors app and online lost-pet groups.
Bird owners also have specialized resources.
911 Parrot Alert maintains a nationwide database specifically for missing and found parrots, while other registries allow users to compare recently lost birds with animals found nearby.
There were already several missing-bird listings around Tampa before Tuesday’s surprise workplace visitor appeared, although none reviewed so far has been confirmed as the same bird.
Anyone claiming the bird would still need to establish that it actually belongs to them.
Keeping specific identifying information private can help a finder distinguish a real owner from someone simply responding to pictures posted online.
What happens next
For the moment, the bird has accomplished something few Tampa office visitors manage on their first day: it found a coworker it apparently likes and inspired strangers across the city to start investigating.
Whether it is somebody’s escaped pet, a bird with a more complicated history or simply an unusually friendly member of Tampa Bay’s established parakeet population remains unclear.
The Reddit poster and coworkers are continuing to check local missing-pet reports and look for an owner.
And after one hopeful Tampa resident already made the trip only to discover it wasn’t her missing bird, the next person who walks through the door could provide the ending everyone in the thread is waiting for.
Until then, Tampa’s mystery office bird appears to have picked its own temporary desk mate.
