Continuing Training Challenges in Flight

[carlylu]

or...

"The Mystery of the Red-headed Man"

 

 

Carly and I had one of those instant-aging experiences this weekend, all starting with her obsession with Red-headed guys (RHGs).

 

Carly went into full-force femalehood this spring and became obsessed with red-headed guys when we were out. She would want to sit on them (sometimes half an hour before I pulled her away) and literally gazed up into their eyes, nibbled on their ears, wanted head scratches. Then when we would walk away she would often fly right back relentlessly. I had to be careful to keep an eye out for them, and really watch her behavior carefully when she was out flying to see if she was getting into that “mood shift” because it was a hard pattern to break once it got started. I also kept her doing shorter flyabouts and treated frequently for just staying with me and doing little tricks. We also did lots of short A-B recalls with the RHGs that she found, so she could interact with them in a more healthy way. And it had subsided a lot over the last month…. until Friday.

 

The short version is: Carly fell in love with a red-headed guy that she spotted while flying over a condo pool area by the beach this weekend, flew down and glommed onto him, and within half an hour she was en route to some veterinarians' house 20 miles away while I searched and called and put up posters for the next 6 hours.

 

Details and discussion of training challenge!

http://likambo.com/flyblog/?p=64

 

Anyone else have a Grey who gets infatuated with certain kinds of people? I deliberately exposed Carly to many different people at a very young age so that she wouldn't become the infamous 1-Person Bird. Now I'm almost envious when I hear someone tell me about a bird they know who "will only go to one person." Her friendliness is endearing, but also a danger we will have to deal with in training.<br><br>Post edited by: carlylu, at: 2008/08/06 00:09

[danmcq]

Wow, now that was a scare for you!! What an intriguing story through of her obsession with RHG's. :-)

 

I assume the RHG that she landed on at the Condo took her their assuming she was lost. That is very admiral behaviour. Most people would have kept the beautiful and friendly bird and not said a word.

 

You are very fortunate.

 

I have never seen or heard of this behaviour before.

[carlylu]

Her RHG wanted to keep her. The condo manager intervened and insisted they look for the owner. She's the one who did all the calling, and actually drove Carly out to the veterinarian couple's house. I'm terribly grateful to her!

[tarnold]

Wow!! Thats an amazing story!

[kittykittykitty]

Fully flighted birds can fly away!!!:ohmy: :dry:

[carlylu]

kittykittykitty wrote:

Fully flighted birds can fly away!!!

 

Ummm.... yeah, that's how birds generally get around. They can also fly back to you, which is the point of flight and recall training.

 

Clipped birds can and do fly away too by the way. Check out one of the parrot lost and found sites and see how many are clipped. Carly could easily fly a couple hundred yards when she had a severe clip -- very fast, and with absolutely no control over direction, turning or landing. Personally, I am more secure having a bird flighted and trained rather than clipped and handicapped outdoors. At least a flighted bird isn't sitting prey for cats or dogs which would normally be the fate of a clipped bird if it isn't recovered.<br><br>Post edited by: carlylu, at: 2008/08/07 00:47

[Trustdace]

I respect everyone's choice that is how I've always been. I myself choose to have my bird clipped. I already lost a blue front amazon due to an open door incident and her not being clipped. While I do not argue that there probably are a lot of lost birds clipped missing and/or lost, and carlylu; your point about a clipped bird is sitting prey for cats or other predators is a heck of a good point, I think a clipped bird would be easier to recover out in the open than a flighted one. Just remember Tui!! Guys we must use discretion in making good decisions. We must exercise common sense before exercising free will, don't you think? If my clipped bird climbs a tree I will sit under it and camp out until it comes down from it; but what can you do with a flighted bird? That's just my point of view. {Nature-00020095}<br><br>Post edited by: Trustdace, at: 2008/08/07 02:14

[Tycos_mom]

I don't like to clip my birds and My home has two doors going out so if my birds do happen to fly out one door the will find themselve in another room. I do sometime clip my birds if they are getting to big for there brithes and think just because they can fly they can do anything the want. I gave My Amazon a little clip last week because she was getting up on my kitchen cupboard and chewing them so I clipped her just a bit because she wasn't listening and I got tiered of climing up there to get her down every ten minutes. The wing clip didn't last very long as she is such a strong flyer by 3 days she was again flying the length of the house again. But at least she has learned that she not allowed on my kitchen cupboards anymore.:woohoo: We all do what we think is best for our birds I have a very strong belief that birds where meant to fly and should be allowed too espiecaly a rescued bird that has been abuse and has to learn how to be a bird again. All my rescue are allowed to fly just because of this Tyco is fully flighted but she was never allowed to fledge as a baby so she does not know how to fly. Mabie she'll learn from my Amazon and oneday I'll have the priveledge to see her in flight I hope so

[carlylu]

Trustdace wrote:

Just remember Tui!! Guys we must use discretion in making good decisions. We must exercise common sense before exercising free will, don't you think? If my clipped bird climbs a tree I will sit under it and camp out until it comes down from it; but what can you do with a flighted bird?

 

No one should have a flighted bird outdoors at all without it being solidly recall trained. That includes taking it outside on a harness. If someone wants to freefly, that training should be done with the assistance of someone with experience, and only after learning fundamental training principles. But from a safety standpoint, it's just as important to have good recall with a clipped bird that is taken outside (or who escapes outside). Who has a dog that doesn't know "come here"? Parrots are a lot smarter than dogs.

 

If a clipped bird is up in a tree it is more likely to keep flying from treetop to treetop than to come down because it will not know HOW to fly down. (Same for an indoor flighted bird actually.) Flying down from a height is a skill that's learned, not innate, and it is how many, many birds are lost. No matter whether your bird is clipped or flighted, training is needed to provide the most safety outside possible.

 

One of the most useful skills I trained with Carly was climbing down out of a tree. Before she had good skills to fly down all the way she could scale down a 50 ft tree just like a monkey. It's something I highly recommend for people with clipped or flighted birds with no outdoor flying experience. Camping out at the bottom of a tree is a very inefficient way to retrieve a bird! ("Treecrawls" are taught using target training -- training the bird to come and touch your hand or a target stick. Easy to train, and greys love swinging through branches. I taught it using only the lower 6 ft on a thick pine tree.)

 

The model Tui's owner was following was someone who was not a professional free-flight trainer and whose method is not endorsed by any professional trainers I know. There are no shortcuts. None. Flighted or not.

 

It takes a lot of dedication to train for outdoor flight, and it is a never-ending process that's definitely not for everyone. But if you want a bird to be retrievable from an escape, it's a delusion to think that clipping alone is the answer. I've seen too many lost and/or dead birds without flight feathers.

 

Andrew (Tui's owner) has a great article in the current issue of Good Bird Magazine by the way, on both preventing and dealing with lost birds. Links here: http://likambo.com/flyblog/?p=62 . He has done a very good job of helping make Tui's loss a learning experience for everyone.

 

raz<br><br>Post edited by: carlylu, at: 2008/08/07 03:44

[judygram]

I admire you Raz for what you do with Carly but it is something I cannot do as it takes a special person to work with your bird the way you do.

 

The battle to clip or not clip will be fought forever but it is an individual decision that is based on each one of our own situations and maybe there is no right or wrong decision.

[carlylu]

Yes, I agree, I'm not saying this to be anti-clipping and certainly not to push outdoor flying.

 

 

I just hate to see misconceptions about what is and isn't safe. There may be good reasons to keep a bird clipped, but from what I've seen, being safer in the event of an escape is not one of them. The safest thing is to have a bird who is trained to come when called, clipped or unclipped.

 

raz

[danmcq]

Raz (Carlylu),

 

Thanks for clarifying it was the Condo Owner that witnessed and then stepped in on your behalf.

 

I forgot to ask, how did the vet know it was your Grey to contact you? Do you have Carly Chipped"?

 

I truly appreciate all that you have contributed to this Forum over a long period of time in regards free flighting a bird and the responsibility of the owner to ensure they have worked with a professional before ever considering the idea

 

Free flighting a bird is both wonderful and dangerous at the same time. It is not for someone that has just gotten their flighted bird trained to fly to them on command in their home. Outside is a completely different story and I guarantee you will lose your bird without months of working with a professional before ever considering the first outdoor flight.

 

Raz (Carlylu) has posted many good comments and links on this Forum for all that can be easily searched and referenced if you are interested in the steps necessary, whether you have ever considered free flight or not, it is great reading and also has some great photos in some of them.

 

This thread is not about clipping or not, it is about a story shared by one of our experienced members that was a heart beat increasing drama to say the least.

 

Raz - Thanks for your great posts and temperament!! :-)

 

I can testify to the fact that trying to get a clipped, partially flighted bird out of a tree is a huge challenge. They do fly from tree to tree, due to not knowing how to fly, glide or climb down. I went through that with my "Clipped" Conure during a 109 degree HOT 2 day search and if we had not gotten him down, he would have died within hours. He was severely dehydrated (no water source) and starving.

 

It is a good idea to teach your bird how to climb down little indoor house trees, ornaments etc. and too also come on command, even if clipped. You just never know what may happen.

 

Keep the wonderful links and stories coming Raz, I certainly enjoy them. :-)

[Jane08]

LOl, she probably saw the red hair and mistook it for a red tail and thought she had found a male grey and that it was her lucky day.

 

Glad you got her back though.

[Nychsa]

Hi there Raz, well, in reference to the red headed guy -I haven't had experiences with red headed guys and Bella, but Bella is crazy about my toes (I've posted a video on here about her going crazy on my toes) and I do have red painted toe nails :laugh: Maybe some of these girls just really like red???? It's the running joke on here that Bella has a foot fetish! I think she digs red toes! :laugh: It's the oddest thing I have to say. She rubs herself all over my toes, and really gets into being quite amorous!