Escaped cockatiel returned after singing signature Addams Family theme tune

Smidge had fled his cage and turned up singing his favourite melody from a tree on local farmland

A fugitive cockatiel who had escaped his cage was tracked down after he was heard whistling his “signature” tune in a tree in nearby farmland.

Smidge, the six-month old bird, had learned the theme tune of the 1964 TV adaptation of The Addams Family, written by Hollywood film and television composer Vic Mizzy.

The bird had reportedly flown out of his travel cage when his owner Rhys Owen, left it open in Hoylake, Merseyside, earlier this week.

In an effort to track down the elusive avian Mr Owen drove around the local area with his car windows down and the stereo turned up playing the Addams Family theme tune “on full blast”, but the tactic didn’t work.

But after an appeal on social media, Smidge turned up at a local farm where he had been heard whistling his favourite tune from a tree.

“As I get there, the first thing is they stop me and say: ‘what song does this bird sing?’ I go: ‘Addams Family’, and they go: ‘yes, he’s yours’. Thank god,” Mr Owen told the BBC.

Mr Owen has reportedly bought the bird a new, more secure cage.

Cockatiels are native to Australia, where they can be seen flying in flocks numbering hundreds of individuals, but due to the ease with which they can be bred in captivity, are prized around the world as pets.

They can easily be taught to sing specific melodies and mimic human words and phrases.

They have also learned to imitate certain human or environmental sounds without being taught how to do so, such as replicating mobile phone ringtones.