Bird bandit purloins precious parrots

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Call this case the Tale of the Bird Bandit and the Purloined Parrots.

An Austin woman named Tina - she prefers to stay anonymous after the crime - was peddling parrots part time.

Her ad on Craigslist drew a response. The caller said he wanted to buy her birds, but he turned out to be a bold, bare-faced bandit. Tina made the mistake of telling him when she would arrive home, but he beat her there and filched her fine feathered friends.

Tina recalls, "My son frantically called me, and said 'Mom we've been robbed, the birds are gone."

But the bird-brained burglar made a big boo-boo.

He left behind written directions on how to get from his house to Tina's. He also left a cardboard box with his address on it.

Police pinched the poacher, charges are pending and Tina's got her parrots back. She says she's learned an important lesson.

"I should not give out my address, and I should not tell somebody I'm not gonna be home. It was a big mistake. And from now on I'm gonna screen everybody more closely."  

So the birds are back, Tina is tickled to have them, and the bandit could face time behind bars.