Budgie lost

Question
We have a very loving, family budgie that we purchased from someone who raised by hand.  He is constantly on our shoulders and speaks several words, phrases and sentences that we have taught him.  My husband stepped outside with the bird on his shoulder and the bird flew off, the entire family has been searching for our bird with no success.  Are there recommendations for searching for the bird?  Would he likely be in the trees (we live in a very wooded area) or on the ground.  Are there any patterns or considerations to aid in our search?  Thank You.

Answer
Dear Cindy,
thank you for your question.
The budgie will keep to the trees and he will probably soon get lost because budgies are not used to returning to a certain place like macaws for example, they live as nomads in the wild. Put his cage outside with food and a treat he really likes, like millet spray, so that he can see it if he's still around. If you can borrow a second budgie from someone you can put in a cage beside it, that may help because your budgie will hear the other budgie calling.

Since he is handraised and very tame, there's a good chance that he will look for people, so it's a good idea to alert your neighbours (even if they are a few miles away, escaped budgies have been know to fly as much as 30 miles), put up some ads in local papers, supermarkets ect. that describe the birds and the the words he can speak and notify the local shelters.
I hope I was of some help to you and I hope hat your budgie will return home safely
Jennifer