Janfromboone

Spent the week moving Tobies cage away from the porch door, where it has been since he came to my house 2.5 yrs ago. He seems to like the new location and Frank put his big swing over the cage again. I had removed all high places like the swing and play stand when he was falling so much. Now he has his play stand back too. Here is a video. No flight videos yet.

Cute photos. Tobie just likes to destroy paper.

I've got a you tube video for this subject

whg - thanks for your amazing insight and response to the question I posed. Since my grey is just this week beginning to fly, I have alot of anxiety over the process he is going through as a two and a half year old bird. I also am anxious about making him safe and the doors escape proof. I lost a cockatiel once many years ago because he flew out the door and I would be devistated if that were to happen to Tobie. So, Shanlung, in no way was I trying to criticize any mistakes that were made with Tinkerbell. I remember crying when I read the story you wrote about Tinkerbell being in that tree and then your frantic search for her. I could relate. I still suffer from the loss of my cockatiel. I still sometimes feel pain that I should have done more to find the bird. I never want to feel that again. I have looked over this post and your site for a reference to Bantienyen soul searching and didn't see it. I probebly missed it. If you have a link or it is in this post I'll look again.

I've asked this before and I'll ask it again. I'd love Shanlungs opinion. Why would a bird ("Tinkerbell" would be an example)who is well trained in recall or perhaps not trained in recall fly away from the only flock members he has ever known. His owner and the home he knows would have to be like his flockmates and home territory in the wild. A wild bird wouldn't fly away from his flock.

Good idea Dan, I'll try to make additions to this thread as Tobie's skill grows. Right now it is still nerve wracking. This morning, for no reason I could see Tobie just took off from his cage and flew through the living room and dining room perfectly level flight and tried to stop before he hit the window screen but really just bounced off of it and then flutted (not too hard) to the floor. It didn't bother him. He just looked at me as if to see if I saw his athletic endeavor and said "Tobie's got a red butt". When I saw that he was alright I couldn't help but laugh at his cocky attitude.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and for sharing my excitement. Now I'm just looking for those skilled maneuvers that will make him safe. There is hope! I still can't believe how fast he went from dropping like a stone to flying.

What a cute girl. She loves being upside down. She is so proud of herself.

would I know him?

Thanks for your support. I think I may be a nervous wreck before he becomes skilled in this new sport of his. He flew again this afternoon off of the computer chair into the laundry room across the hall. A flight log would be a great idea. I admire Dan's idea of a book about Dayo and have wanted to start one for Tobie, but I'm just not disciplined enough I guess. Maybe I'll try again.

Some of you might know about Tobie's first molt which was the start of his chewing on his new flight feathers. I took him to a vet who simply felt that it was expected - "after all he was a grey parrot and they are too sensitive and don't adapt well to being pets". One by one this year he has grown one to three new feathers at a time only to break them, knock them out or chew them off when they would get long. Tobie will be three in June and has never flown. He has had a number of damaging falls hurting his beak, cutting his skin over the breast bone etc. because he just would drop like a stone - and yet still go leaping off my hand or the cage. The beginning of december I found another vet who has been treating Tobie with vitamins, antibiotics(incase he has folliculitis) and plucked out the broken stubs which were frayed and very short. Tobie's feathers almost immediately began to grow in on his bad wing. They aren't fully grown out yet, but... Last night Tobie took flight (actually flew) off the back of the couch banked to miss the wall and landed on the edge of a dog food bowl. It scared me at first and then I was amazed at how he had banked to avoid the wall and although the landing wasn't perfect - it wasn't a crash. This morning while I was fixing Tobie's food dish's I heard him take flight off the cage and the sound of beating wings disappeared growing softer. I tried to stay calm. "Oh Tobie please be OK". I couldn't immediately find him. He had flown 40' from the farthest wall from the bedroom to the bedroom. And I found him walking out of the bedroom door. Some lift had to be happening for him to span that distance. I didn't see if the landing was bad or good but he wasn't hurt. I have a feeling he will be a quick study and be flying in control in no time. Now I feel a bit nervous, but so happy. I didn't think it would happen so soon and before the feathers are fully grown in that wing. The other wing is fully feathered.

Everyone sound like they are really committed. I had a good day today at work. Ate a salad for lunch. We are expecting 10 -14 inches of snow tomorrow and the next day so I won't be going out to exercise. Someone walk an extra mile for me. Ugh - I guess that wont work will it.

I'm willing to go along with putting your bird out in the snow for a minute to let him see what it's all about. Why doesn't the bird fly away though. I want to know because that's a trick I'd like Tobie to learn.

Dayo is a special grey. I love the way he was rearranging his words.

I have two comments. First of all being very near my 60th birthday I'd like to say that Lambert58's mom would probebly have no trouble finding the forum if she had reason to do so. That said, I'll have to also confess that we didn't own a computer when I started keeping cockatiels in my 20's and I had one "how to" book on birds and fed my cockatiels seed mix "fortidiet" that had pellets in it but they wouldn't eat the pellets. All of my cockatiels lived 16 to 20 years except for one that had an accident. I should add that I would do a much better job now with all the information that is available on the computer and how easy it is to order books on-line. Back then if the book store didn't have it, or the pet store didn't have it, then you didn't know it existed.<br><br>Post edited by: Janfromboone, at: 2010/01/29 06:06

Dayo is becoming quite the dancer. I want to thank everyone, Talon included for making this forum possible. What a great source of information and fun. I don't know how you provide this service for free.

Now it is the day after my post and - well, I really didn't get started very well. I went to visit my mother who is 99yo. She was blue and I invited her out to lunch to cheer her up. The rest is just another excuse. I'm going to work for the next three days and that will keep me busy and maybe it would be best to start in the morning. I'll let you know how it goes.

Great videos - here is my all time favorite dog video. Read the story about the dog.

Wow! How timely. I've put on almost 20 pounds since I quit smoking a year ago. I had lost 30lbs about three years ago and gained back 10 over the two years before I quit smoking but it had stabilized. Now I've reached my old all time high. It is soooo hard to get started on a diet. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one on this forum. I'm going to try again.

Where are the poor birds snow boots!! Not to mention the harness.

I don't think Tobie poops at night in the cage unless I sleep really late. As soon as I open the door and he steps out he steps up on an exterior perch and poops right away - a big one.

What a beautiful story of your exploits and wonderful photos.

believe it or not Tobie' flight feathers are growing well and there is a good chance that he will also be flighted this year. He missed it last year.

Thanks for finding that Dan. Being a loyal you tube grey video watcher I had run across Lyns talent before. I missed the duet though.

Alfie is a silly girl. Never thought of a glasses case as a foraging tool. You should post it under the forum for homemade toys.