Blue the macaw, part of program at Homewood-Flossmoor High School for nearly 20 years, is missing

FLOSSMOOR, Ill. (CBS) — A beloved bird is missing from a south suburban high school, and students and staff are asking for your help to find him.

As CBS 2’s Marybel González reported Friday night, the macaw parrot known as Blue has been a fixture in the Homewood-Flossmoor High School community for 20 years, and has traveled the hallways with generations’ worth of students.

But now, his cage at the high school is empty.

“Blue is family, and we need Blue back,” said Homewood-Flossmoor High School principal Dr. Clinton Alexander.

Blue is part of the school’s ZooBot zoology and botany program. The school said he went missing over the weekend.

The students have a hole in their hearts.

“The program is distraught,” Dr. Alexander said.

Blue is lost as a result of an accident this past Sunday.

“Apparently, one of our students took him home and was kind of nursing him over the weekend, and he got away,” Dr. Alexander said. “He was outside, and apparently the wind blew.”

It is routine that students take Blue home as part of the ZooBot program. That is how they learn to care for animals like him.

But on this particular weekend, Blue’s wings are not clipped.

“That’s why we clip them, to keep him from being able to fly away,” Dr. Alexander said.

The clock is now ticking to find the beloved bird, because the temperatures are dropping.

“He’s a tropical bird, so the frost is harmful to him,” said Dr. Alexander.

Also of concern is Blue’s crooked beak.

“We need to find him so we can nurture him, because it’s a very sophisticated method to feed him,” Alexander said.

Until then, the ZooBot classroom and the hallways that were home to Blue will be less vibrant in his absence.

“A routine sighting of Blue is to see him in passing periods, with him being on someone’s shoulder – and he would squawk at people, and he was really just a friendly face around the building,” said Dr. Alexander. “He was a true family member.”

The school got a tip about a possible sighting of Blue in Country Club Hills earlier this week, but he remains missing.

A social media post noted that Blue is blue and gold in color and measures 18 inches. He has no ID band.

If you see Blue, the school asks that you contact them immediately to bring him home. You can call the school at (708) 335-5589, or email [email protected].