An orphan bird who sidled her way into a Hawke's Bay family is now missing, and her adopters are asking Poraiti locals to keep an eye out for an over-friendly magpie.
Marty Smith says Edgar the bird is so friendly she would land on your head and even walk straight into your home.
Ms Smith addresses Edgar as a male because she likes the name, but says locals should be keeping an eye out for a female magpie because she is really a girl.
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Edgar has black feathers and may have a white beak by now.
Many people find magpies pesky, but Ms Smith says Edgar is a quirky bird and is loved by the whole family.
She came into their lives a year ago when she blew out of her nest.
Their dog Hunter, true to her name, went in for the kill but couldn’t get her jaw over Edgar's chirping beak, "she would have killed him", Ms Smith said.
Ms Smith stepped in and picked Edgar up, she couldn’t find her mother and took him in.
"I didn't think I was saving him for us, I thought I was saving him for the bird sanctuary," she says.
She had no luck there, magpies are known to harass people and even kill native birds, and the sanctuary didn't want her.
Her whole family fell in love with her. Her son would play jazz for Edgar because it was her favourite music.
Marty Smith is an author and English teacher, so no surprise Edgar was named after American poet Edgar Allen Poe.
Hunter the dog is besotted with Edgar and misses her terribly.
Edgar was spooked by a low flying plane and flew away but her family are not giving up the search.
Even Hunter the dog has been helping.
Newshub.
