Maldon CFA and FRV Bendigo involved in Bruce the macaw rescue

Popular local identity Bruce, who was described as an "important tourism ambassador", had first been reported missing on Friday night.

His owner Melita Lee, had inadvertently left the cage door open, and while Bruce's fiancee Brenda - a red macaw - and his friend Bird - a sulphur crested cockatoo - hung around at the Maldon Takeaway, where they spend their working days, Bruce had taken off into some trees.

Melita and her partner Adam frantically searched for the blue and gold macaw, and with help from some locals, found him 10m up a eucalypt just before dark.

But an attempt to rescue him from a ladder gave Bruce a scare, causing him to fly up to a higher perch, where he became stuck.

"He was literally frozen with fear on the thin outer twigs of that massive gum tree," Melita says.

"A lot of birds that are bred in captivity are scared of flying, especially if the breeders have clipped their wings.

She said while she and Adam had been working to help teach Bruce to fly over a year and a half he hadn't yet done his "descent training".

Maldon CFA captain Sean McCubbin got a call about the parrot's plight shortly before 10pm.

"He got up in this rather large gum tree, and because he can't descend, that was the issue," Captain McCubbin said.

The next day Melita was up at daybreak, and staged another frantic search when it turned out the macaw had shifted from his spot.

She eventually located him again, this time 22m - about four storeys high - up a nearby gum.

Captain McCubbin, after establishing that the bird was beyond the reach of local ladders, spoke to CFA commanders about getting some special apparatus sent in.

"It became a question of health and welfare," he told the Advertiser. "A hawk or other native bird could've easily killed him."

While they waited for the "ladder platform" from Fire Rescue Victoria's Bendigo City station, four local firies kept an eye on Bruce.

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When the ladder platform finally arrived, with a two-person crew from FRV station 73, Melita was surprised to discover she would be allowed to go up in it.

"I'm petrified of heights," the cafe owner said.

But fully harnessed up, and with Sam the firefighter a calm and encouraging companion in the bucket, she focused on her beloved bird and ascended into the canopy.

"I wasn't scared once I got up there," she says.

Once they reached the right height the pair edged their way towards the parrot, who was "frozen stiff to the branch".

"I literally had to pry his claws off," Melita says. "Once I had him on my hand I just grabbed him."

Bruce was dehydrated and upset, and remained "very distressed" for the rest of the night.

But for the rescuers, it was smiles all round following the successful operation.

"It was roughly 15 minutes once the ladder platform was set up and Melita managed to convince him to come across to her," Cptn McCubbin said.

"It was a wonderful team effort by FRV and the CFA working together for the benefit of the community."

Among the interested community members was Captain McCubbin's young son, who would have had questions for him if Bruce had not been retrieved, the firefighter reported.

Back at the cafe a "phenomenal" number of people had dropped in to check on Bruce's welfare since the rescue, Melita reported on Tuesday.

The bird was "back to his normal self" and talking again, she said.

Overall it was "very humbling" to think of all the trouble and fuss that had been taken to rescue him.

But after all, as Captain McCubbin said, Bruce is not just a member of the Lee family but of the local community.

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