Parrot gets award for warning about choking tot

Willie repeatedly yelled ‘Mama, baby’ and flapped wings to alert babysitter

	Willie, a Quaker parrot in Denver, Colo., has been given a lifesaver award by the local Red Cross chapter.
CBS4Denver.com via AP

Get weird & wonderful news on Twitter

Looking for more strange and fun stories and oddball videos? Follow @msnbc_wow.

Video: Wonderful World

AFP - Getty Images

Panda cub gets a check-up
Nov. 6: Veterinarians at the San Diego Zoo give a 3-month-old panda a check-up. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

Albom shares lessons on life, death, belief

Prince Charles, Camilla in Newfoundland

Viewers make a difference in Afghanistan

Blind band to march in Rose Parade

Your turn!

Inspirational athletes
In honor of the 2008 Olympics, we're celebrating the athletes in your own life who inspire greatness.

updated 9:07 a.m. ET March 24, 2009

DENVER - A parrot whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast has been honored as a hero.

Willie, a Quaker parrot, has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award.

In November, Willie's owner, Megan Howard, was baby-sitting for a toddler. Howard left the room and the little girl, Hannah, started to choke on her breakfast.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Willie repeatedly yelled "Mama, baby" and flapped his wings, and Howard returned in time to find the girl already turning blue.

Howard saved Hannah by performing the Heimlich maneuver but said Willie "is the real hero."

"The part where she turned blue is always when my heart drops no matter how many times I've heard it," Hannah's mother, Samantha Kuusk, told KCNC-TV. "My heart drops in my stomach and I get all teary eyed."

Willie got his award during a "Breakfast of Champions" event Friday attended by Gov. Bill Ritter and Mayor John Hickenlooper.