Parrot missing for four years returns speaking Spanish

A pet parrot that spoke with a British accent when it disappeared from its home four years ago has been reunited with its owner - and now speaks Spanish.

The reunion was brought about by a Southern California vet who mistook Nigel, an African grey parrot, for her own missing bird, the local Daily Breeze newspaper reported.

Teresa Micco tracked Nigel's microchip to British man Darren Chick.

When she verified Chick's name and said she had his African grey parrot, "he looked at me like I was crazy".

Chick said his bird went missing four years ago. He said the bird's British accent had gone, and it now chatters in Spanish.

It's the fifth parrot reunion facilitated by Micco, who has been running ads for her own missing bird for nine months.