A PEEPING Tom gave a Tannum Sands woman a shock when he called out “hello my darling, how are you doing?” as she came out of the shower last week.
Her fright turned to relief when it turned out the voyeur was an escaped cockatoo named Darling.
Wildlife carer Lorraine de Roode said her amorous bird flew the coop after she let it out.
“He loves kids, so when he heard them playing he flew over to them,” Mrs de Roode said. She said Darling roosted in a palm tree for the night.
“I couldn’t climb up the tree and I said ‘you can stay there’,” she said.
“He went to a neighbour’s house and ended up staying inside for the night.
“They sent me a message to say the bird was there and I drove him home the next day.”
The talkative bird has a large vocabulary of English phrases including “I love you”, “what are you doing” and “hello my darling”.
