That sounds like a good a plan as any to me. I never thought about it until reading this thread, since dad had a parakeet that flew away when he was a kid as well. I was thinking how weird that was because his parents were very anal about animals in the house, and my granddad had no huge regard for birds. I wonder how dad got away with that one?
But yeah, the birdie flew away. Then I thought of mom, who had canaries when she was little. She talked about how they taught the canaries songs to chirp. So that's both parents who you'd think have a soft spot for birds...
But nope, I wanted one and it will be written on their tombstones that they didn't let me have one.
The only bird I knew, and I don't know what kind he was, only that he was smallish, seemed friendly, and talked. He seemed to know the difference between boys and girls, and if a girl went into his room, he'd been conditioned to cat whistle and say "Pretty girl!" - so during a slumber party it was impossible to sneak in there in the morning and grab our shower stuff, he told the entire house about it.
But cooler than that was how friendly he was, he'd hop up to the side of his cage and sort of push the door a bit, and if you let him out he'd perch on your finger and tilt his head until you rubbed it (something that someone told me birds don't like?), and he'd push against your finger until you got the itchy spot.
I only knew him for a few days, but he was brilliant and just seemed to be a happy bird. I never met the boy who took such great care of him, but he did an awesome job.
So not even being a bird person, I know that, like any animal who joins the family, you get to know their personalities (for lack of a better word), and of course you're worried about him. I hope that he's at the Home for Wayward Birds playing birdie games and doing things birdies like to do.