Actor Henry Thia finds his lost sun parakeet after public appeal

SINGAPORE – Henry Thia has found his lost bird after posting a public appeal.

The 73-year-old local actor and comedian uploaded a picture of Sunny, his sun conure (also known as sun parakeet), on Instagram on April 17 after it was found - just a day after he posted a notice on the same platform offering a reward to anyone able to locate Sunny.

The bird flew away from his home at about 2pm on April 16.

But it is now back home safe and sound, thanks to a man Thia referred to as Mr Ivan. Thia added that his granddaughter is happy about their pet’s return. The post includes pictures of Thia with Mr Ivan and Thia’s granddaughter with Sunny.

Thia had earlier told Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao in an interview published on April 17 that Sunny flew out of the cage while he was using an electric saw to fix its iron support.

The artiste, known affectionately as “Hui Ge” (Elder Brother Hui), used to keep six sun conures, but one of them flew away in March.

“I was too careless as they are quite timid and can be frightened by thunder on rainy days, so it must have been the sound of the saw that spooked Sunny and caused it to fly away,” Thia told Zaobao.

“I love Sunny the most due to its beautiful colour – a rare reddish-yellow – and it’s very good at ‘talking’.”

He said then he believed that the bird did not fly far and should still be somewhere near his home in Sengkang, and added he would give a hongbao to anyone who can find Sunny and return it to him.

The actor, who starred in Chinese New Year comedy I Want To Be Boss (2025), also mentioned the bird that flew away in March.

“I adopted it from its previous owner who could not keep it due to family matters,” Thia said. “When we reached home and I was about to tie the bird’s foot chain to the cage, it just flew away. I had it for under five hours.”

He said he was even more passionate about birds during his younger days and had kept more than 100 of them at home at one point.

He added he had birds everywhere in his house then – from the living room to the kitchen to other rooms. Bird cages were even hung from bamboo poles meant for drying laundry. 

“They made so much noise that my wife almost fainted,” he quipped.

Thia took his birds to singing competitions from time to time, and the most expensive bird he bought was a green parrot with “great eloquence”.

“I spent about $5,800 to buy that parrot, and sold it at a loss later,” he said. “At the time, I did not buy the birds one at a time, but by cages, with 20 to 30 birds in a cage.”