Pandora, the male sulphur crested cockatoo believed abducted from the Living Art Wildlife Park, is back inside his cage.

He's been hanging out in a tree at the park near the Pyes Pa roundabout since Saturday, but the normally friendly and trusting bird wouldn't return to the hands of his owner Mark Paterson.

Pandora is being returned to its cage by Mark Paterson.

That is until this morning when Mark scaled the tree and reacquired the bird.

This was an unusual step to take, says Mark, 'He'll normally come down for Cheezels.”

He believes the normally friendly bird was stolen from the park's aviary about 1am on Friday.

'Our neighbour heard the birds making a noise,” says Mark.

'What they were doing was talking and they only talk when there are human beings around.

The usual Cheezel lure was not working.

'He's the friendliest bird down there. What he does is he puts his foot outside his cage as you walk past and he wants to talk to you.

'He's a bird who will hop on your arm, whereas his partner's not so happy with people – especially males.”

Pandora returned home Saturday, flying in from the direction of the nearby Tauranga Golf Club.

'We did get a ring form a lady thinking that she had heard a cockatoo in the early hours of the morning,” says Mark.

'What might have happened is they have tried to take him back through the golf course and he bit them, or they tried to put him into a cage or something along those lines.

'They might have let him out because he was too noisy. They are incredibly noisy when they want to be.”