Bird species

Question
Thank you for your quick response! I live in South Carolina, and the bird was walking along the edge of the road, beside a forest. I'm afraid I didn't get a very good look at its beak, as I was driving. When I turned around to get another look, it walked into the brush. My mother and I tried to capture it later, and it kept running away from us. It always kept a good distance from us, so we still could not get a good look. Although its call sounded much like a parrot's, I spent about 5 hours today researching online and in a library, looking through hundreds of pictures, and I could not find a species that matched its coloring. The most peculiar thing about the bird was the stripes, yellow and black on its head. I saw many pictures of birds that had different colored and very small stripes on their face, but not the several larger stripes that went around their head, as this bird did. I appreciate your time and effort in helping this bird.

~Faith~

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Followup To
Question -
I was driving today, and I passed a large bird walking along the side of the road. It was about as big as a large parrot or macaw. It had gold and black horizontal stripes on its head, a red belly, black on its back and sides, and a long yellow tail. I have been searching online, and I cannot identify the species of this bird. I'm afraid it might be someone's pet or it might have escaped from a pet store. Please help me find out what species this bird is.
Answer -
I'll try to help. What part of the country are you in? Did the bird have a straight beak or curved (like a hook) one? If straight, was it long or short? Do you remember the color?

Describe the area it was walking in. Was there water nearby or woods?

I have to commend you on caring so much that you'd be here asking about it. If it was a lost bird looking for a way home, it's folks like you who make big differences.

Rev. S. Abbott


 www.4AnimalCare.info  

Answer
With little more to go on, it sounds like it might have been a type of roadrunner. The reason I don't think it was a parrot is because they wouldn't typically walk anywhere, especially if frightened.  Although your temps would allow exotic parrots a great chance of survival in the wild, even food sources, their actual success would depend on them staying in the trees.  
If escaped/lost - it would still have to had the capacity to fly in order to have made it to where you spotted it. Even wing-clipped birds can make it 'up' to a certain point and glide tree to tree. They also aren't generally fast enough on the ground to escape a determined human.

If you get any more info, let me know. The shape of the beak is pretty important to determine more.

(I can imagine the scene of you two chasing this bird and I've got to smile!)