Scared me

[Sanveaz]

We had a little accident today that scared both me and Escher. When I get him out of his cage I keep my arm away from my body because as soon as I start to walk he poops he then jumps to my chest. Today he instead flew into my library and flew onto the blinds slipped off and fell to the floor. On the way down he knocked some books down, paperback thank goodness, and they landed over and around him. By the time I made it into the room I couldn't find him and he wouldn't make a sound. Scared me to death. I then heard a little rustling noise and dug him out, luckily none of the books looked like they actually hit him, he was just trapped. He wasn't hurt but it scared him. When I got him out he was fussing like crazy in his birdy language. I got him to his play stand and he flew off luckily this time to a more secure area in the dining room. I had him out for several hours afterward and he was fine.

His wings were clipped when we got him and I don't think he learned to fly before they clipped them because he does not fly very well at all. He is getting better. Every once in a while he lands where he intends to but most of the time he crash lands, I'm so glad we have carpet.

[Timbersmom]

Glad to hear Escher is OK! My situation is the same. I don't think Timber ever fledged. He makes no attempt to fly at all. He can glide to the floor pretty well, but I've never seen him try to take flight. Got my fingers crossed for the future, but we'll see. From everything I've read here Escher will get better with practice!

[JanMarie]

Dolly was never fledged and she's not graceful at all. When I got her, her wings were/still are clipped. When she does fly off her play stand she reminds me of a turkey trying to fly...she scares me too! I don't want her to get hurt. If you do let their wings grow back how do you let them practice flying?? I am afraid that Dolly will get hurt.

[BaileysPapa]

My Bailey is in the same condition. He was clipped by the breeder, and when he tries to fly, he misses his target, and crashes on the floor. After their flight feathers grow in, let them experiment flying. They'll be clumsy, but will improve with practice. Make sure they have soft landing areas. Keep the distance between you short, so, they can make the flight. It will build up their confidence. Increase the distance slowly, and praise them for their achievement and courage. If you intend to clip them again, give them enough time to learn how to fly and maneuver before doing so. Just like children learning to walk, there will be mishaps. But, they'll learn from you and your confidence in them. Remember, you are their flock leader, and they'll take their lessons from you. It's their natural instinct to fly, and fledglings in the wild just eventually hop off the nest and learn by doing.

[JeffNOK]

My CAG Gracie fully fledged, but even so she had many mishaps in the early days. I remember shortly after bringing her home I opened the cage door and she flew straight into the fireplace bricks at high speed and crashed to the floor. I was terrified she might have seriously injured herself, but she wandered over to me and raised her talon for a step up and gave me a look like, "Let us never discuss this."

[murfchck]

We started with little flight lessons with Bongo. Pat would hold him and then kind toss him in my direction. ( i don't actually mean toss but there isn't a better word for the action of kinda nudging him with the flinch of the arm ) For weeks we would only be a foot away from each other then we slowly spread apart, it just didn't seem like he was getting any better at it either. Those crash landing were breaking my heart! (here is a hint too, don't try and catch him with your arm, let your bird try and aim and land on it. I out of instinct, tried to follow and catch him on my arm and it screwed the poor guy up cause he just didn't know where to go!) After many many months of this, he is now our best flier and just loves to do laps around the kitchen when i am not looking! His feathers are still coming in from his clip before we got him 2 years ago, so don't wait to start the lessons, just start off where he can gain confidence in himself, the rest will happen with being consistant!

[Inara]

Sanveaz, your heart must have stopped when you could not see your wonderful Escher! Am happy to know that all ended well. Whew.

 

Inara appeared to never really have fledged either, and her first people had at one time not long before she came to live with us taken her on a trail ride (person atop a horse) on their shoulder. They assured me that she "doesn't like to fly," and "will only head to the ground." I was very concerned after having seen her "head to the ground," a few times that she would seriously injure herself because she appeared to have no concept that 1) her wings really did belong to her and that she could control them, and 2) she appeared not to intentionally aim at any particular landing spot -- she would just startle lift and drop into a confused mess of fluff. I also made the assumption that her muscles would need strengthened and developed.

 

When she would flap her wings while on the high bar of her mobile play perch, I'd say, "Wow! Hang on! Big wings! That feels good!" and then would give her a smooch or a tidbit of something to encourage more. Now we have our "Rock and roll" time and she does it wildly and dances and we're just silly together then.

 

I then began to help her generalize that feeling to other situations by starting with a fat piece of cotton rope with big knots in it. I would hang it perpendicular and she would (and still does loves to do this) grab hold of it with her beak and feet and we would play "hang on, swing swing." After she was very comfortable with that game, I began to swing it with a bit more verve and give it a little drop which stimulated Inara to flap her wings. Then, we did the whole "Wow! Big wings! etc." and she learned after a few weeks that she could drive the rope herself by flapping her wings and flying forward while holding onto the rope. It is as if she had an "aha" moment that her wings truly belonged to *her*. During this same period (time frame is fuzzy, I'd have to look back at my journal), I worked with her when she would be on the seed guard at the bottom of her mobile play stand. I put it close to the sofa by just a few inches, and I could see that she really wanted to move from it to the sofa to be with me. So I would excitedly tell her, "You can do it! Use your big wings!" and one day she did. She was so pleased with herself, that she wanted to do it again and again. So each time I just moved the perch a bit farther from the couch.

 

To make a shot story even longer ( ), she eventually (one evening when startled by the dog, and the night she was startled by the Quaker Oats Man! and at other times since then) made controlled flights where she even banked around the kitchen island and came to a perfect landing. She now has so much more confidence, and I believe that she has the main floor mapped out in her brain. Now she chooses to fly off of her little PVC perch, take a sharp L shaped left turn and heads for her cage, safely landing in front of it, when she wants to go "home." She has not yet, though, figured out that she can take flight intentionally (rather than when startled) when she is on the ground. So far she tries hopping and giving her wings a bit of a flap.

 

Certainly, there are more professional ways to help train one's bird to fly. The above is just what came naturally to both me and Inara and just felt right as we used play and trust building to build muscles, stamina, and confidence. Learning through play with the addition of reinforcers (in the forms of tidbits, and tons of affection and positive interaction) is what it is all about for us, as she is not my research subject, she's my beloved companion. Last night, my Joe, called her "Turbo" after I had passed her off to his hand while I went into the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. I heard a flutter of wings, and "Hey Turbo where are you going?" I turned around to see that Inara had successfully navigated off of Joe's hand, and landed safely in the large open entry way to the kitchen. She apparently had decided to come look for me, and was happily walking toward me, giving me major smooches on the cheek when I picked her up.

 

It's really wonderful to see so much improved confidence and less hyper-vigilance/startle response in her now that she has put all the pieces of her own body together including her spacial awareness and navigation brain. She has gone from a nervous, clumsy dive bomber, to a more relaxed pilot. She also now, will use her wings to hop down from one of the perches in her cage, to the bottom of her cage, and has not taken a fall in there for quite some time, I think because she knows she can also use her wings to regain her balance. At some point, I'll look into more structured flight training, but for now, this has been a great and fun process for both her and for me. We have plenty of time for something more official as her strength, agility, and confidence continue to grow.

 

I'm sure your beautiful Escher, with practice will become much more intentional and confident too as he goes along. Those unintentional incidents in the beginning days with Inara gave me grey hair, and I'm still a bit fluttery-hearted when she takes off and I'm not expecting her to!

Edited December 11, 2013 by Inara

[birdhouse]

That is unfortunately a rite of passage for every bird owner w/every bird they'll own, I think. I refuse to think of the number of times I had one of mine crash into something & scare me to pieces. And yet somehow, no one has ever actually hurt themselves.

 

Also, they usually won't make any movement or sound initially when they go down behind or under something like that. It's an instinct to avoid attracting scary things that might want to eat them while they're on the ground where they're vulnerable.

 

When my tiels had their first clutch of chicks, I made the mistake of letting them loose in an apartment w/an open floor plan. Someone slammed the door downstairs. Both parents & the 6 chicks exploded thru the house in every possible direction. Took me a good 10 mins to fetch them back from every crazy place imaginable.

 

All but one, that is. I searched every where. Panic growing by the minute. Sure that one had snapped his neck or something in the fray. Not a movement. Not a sound for half a very very very long hour.

 

My dog was the chicks' Nanny from the first time he insisted on sticking his head in the nest box. He was searching right along w/us the whole time & was the one who finally found him ...and I ignored him when he started trying to let me know where the poor guy was!

 

I just didn't believe the poor frantic dog because the teil had managed to fall inside a 20 gal bag of potting soil. I had been randomly replanting things & left it sitting open on the floor in the meantime. Whenever he fell in, he took the edge of the opening w/him & closed himself in there. Never moved. Never made a peep for 1/2 hr. If it hadn't been for the dog, I never would have found him.

Edited December 12, 2013 by birdhouse

[Luvparrots]

What I find irritating is that my Tag, Ana Grey, loves to fly off and not answer me or come to me when I call. No matter what I say or offer, she is silent as the wind. It is her thing to do and she is very proud of herself. Sterling Gris, Cag, tries to help by calling, "Ana Grey, where are you?" When I do finally find her, Ana Grey proudly steps up with her beak in the air and a smug look on her face. What a queen!!!

Edited December 13, 2013 by luvparrots

[Talon]

As an owner of a tag, cag & amazon, all were clipped and never allowed to fly since they were hatched, I allowed their wings to grow out, and although they struggled for a while, they are the most proficient fliers ever. They can maneuver thru tight spaces, land perfectly and fly as smooth as can be. Given time and allowing them lots of practice, they will recover from not being allowed to fly in their early lives.