The babysitter was in the next room when the screaming started. It wasn’t the child. It was the parrot — and he was saying something he’d never said before.
In November 2006, in Denver, Colorado, babysitter Megan Howard left two-year-old Hannah briefly to use the bathroom. Hannah was eating breakfast — and began to choke, silently, on her food.
In the same room sat Willie, a Quaker parrot belonging to Hannah’s family.
“Mama! Baby!”
Willie started flapping wildly and screaming two words together for the first time: “Mama! Baby! Mama! Baby!”
Megan rushed back in, found Hannah turning blue, and performed the Heimlich maneuver. The food dislodged. Hannah recovered fully.
Veterinarians and animal behavior experts noted what made the moment remarkable: Willie didn’t just repeat a sound. He combined two words from his vocabulary — mother, and baby — in an emergency neither he nor anyone else had trained him for.
A Hero With Feathers
Willie was honored by the local chapter of the Red Cross at an animal hero awards event in Denver, with Hannah’s family crediting the little green parrot with her life.
Parrots are famous for talking. Willie is famous for knowing exactly when it mattered most.
❓ Q&A
Q: What kind of parrot was Willie? A: A Quaker parrot, also known as a monk parakeet — a species known for clear speech and strong vocabularies.
Q: Was the toddler okay? A: Yes. The babysitter cleared her airway with the Heimlich maneuver and Hannah made a full recovery.
Story compiled from widely reported accounts of Willie the parrot’s rescue in Denver.
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