Bad bird briefs

Along with the crows taking a cigarette break in the photo, some birds and their vices in the news.

A wandering parrot returns to its bad habits, From the Times UK:

A parrot that escaped from its home in Brockley, South London, was lured back with a glass of red wine and crisps. Reggie was missing for more than 24 hours before its owner, Hubbell Walker, decided to put the treats on the windowsill. Mr Walker, 27, said: “He loves Pringles and red wine — he’s quite an unhealthy parrot really.”

In Australia, a kookaburra is on a diet. After four weeks of carefully attended spa treatment, the bird is still too fat to return to normal life:

The female bird had a weigh-in on Monday and tipped the scales at 481g - 20g short of its target.

It can't be released back into the wild unless it can shed those last grams, the zoo said.

A local Mosman resident found the over-fed Australian native bird being chased by dogs at Rawson Park on May 4.

It weighed 545g, 40 per cent more than the typical kookaburra, and was unable to take flight.

"I've seen many kookaburras, but never before have I seen one so fat," Taronga Zoo wildlife hospital nurse Gemma Watkinson said in a statement.