So Proud of My Girl Zilla!!!

She is learning to fly! Or should I say aim herself & land? She's been with me for 16 months now and has always avoided flying due to her "aim" and her landings were terrible (she would somersault or crash land every time) She also had a terrible time going the direction she wanted. If you look at a clock, she would aim herself towards the 12 and she would end up at 10 or 2 then crash. I believe it's for this reason she just chose not to fly, it must have been scary for her.

I think Mark (Birdman) had it totally right when he said she hadn't been allowed to fledge properly since she was wild caught. So a couple months ago I started working with her. She still has 2 flight feathers on each side trimmed about 1/2 way, but I chose not to have her clipped anymore unless she doesn't learn to aim & land properly, then for her safety I will have to have her clipped again.

So I started slowly with just having her on my finger and raising & lowering my hand fast so she would flap her wings to stay balanced. She really really likes this time with me and flapping her wings, she makes all her Amazon "happy" noises and holds on so tight my finger hurts! I live in an apartment so running around with her doesn't work for me (I would trip over the furniture or run into the walls) About a week ago I started "tossing" her off my hand towards her cage from about 4 feet away and have gradually moved farther and farther away. She now has no problem landing on her cage top from wherever in the living/dining room I launch her from!

Just in the last 2 days she has decided to try a bit of flying to me from her cage top and has ended up on my head 1 time and on my back just below my shoulder 1 time! She also made it all the way across the living room from her hanging play stand to her cage in the dining room for dinner last night! Now I just have to work on "If you let Mommy know you're coming I can be ready to catch you" and getting her to fly to me when I call her

I may be creating a "monster" though, since her favorite perch/toy is me. I've always been able to put her down where I wanted her and she would stay there, but if she learns this flying thing she wouldn't have to stay where I put her, she would be able to join me wherever I happen to be!

AWESOME progress Amanda!

Oh Amanda, reading this just gave me massive goosebumps! What absolute incredible and remarkable progress you've made with Zilla!!! I am so tickled to hear of her new skill!!!! :smile015:

Your dedication and love for Zilla shows through with every single post!

Amanda_Bennett said:

.....About a week ago I started "tossing" her off my hand towards her cage from about 4 feet away and have gradually moved farther and farther away. She now has no problem landing on her cage top from wherever in the living/dining room I launch her from!
.........
I may be creating a "monster" though, since her favorite perch/toy is me. I've always been able to put her down where I wanted her and she would stay there, but if she learns this flying thing she wouldn't have to stay where I put her, she would be able to join me wherever I happen to be!

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I love your post! Bless your heart for what you do for this bird.
That is exactly what I did with Marley when I got her. She was 100g overweight and couldn't fly. I would just "toss" her from a very close distance from her cage.....
YES!!!! You are creating a MONSTER!...... , I can tell you this for sure.
Marley is flying and maneuvering herself around the house like a lethal weapon. She is in a nesting mode (I guess) and flying to anything in the house she desires to chew on. The kitchen cabinet, my oak bed and my piano (!!!) were the last victims......

Way to go Amanda and Zilla. That is fabulous.

Our Bundii was the same. No idea on how to land. Now she is the most skilled and can land on a dime.

Go you and Zilla!

I know what you mean about creating a monster. Since we started working on flight, Ginny has started flying to my shoulder. Seeing her make these independent choices excites me! But I'm her favorite place to be and keenly aware this could get troublesome.

She scared the crap out of me twice today!

Once flying to me and landing on my head and then later by flying off me back to her cage!

I'm happy she is learning, but I'm not sure my heart can take any more heart freak outs!

You will get use to it very quick......
I can only imagine how happy she is. Flying for her is how walking is for us.
Good job both of you!

Go Zilla! Sounds like she was ready to fledge after all these years Hope she doesn't give you a heart attack while she's learning, and don't worry, I'm sure you'll get used to her flying around too

Sydney was the same way, he couldn't fly and never flew to my knowledge when I got him. He would totally crash land when he slipped off the cage or had a moment of panic!

I started having him on a perch and getting him to flap, and then running up and down my hallway with him flapping, I probably looked crazy! Began tossing him lightly, and then kind of gave up on it for a while, till one day he attempted on his own and flew a good few feet on his own off the cage and crash landing on the floor.

He's definitely got more confident now, as he'll fly after me whenever I take Gonzo off of his cage (jealousy much?) and will grab onto my shirt or something and dangle!

He's not crash landing as badly as he used to, but I don't think he'll ever get the landing quite right, he's always landing on carpet or the couch so I'm not too worried.

Great job Zilla and Amanda!!

Great job with Zilla . Robin never fledged, so he has no instinct to fly. The few times in the past couple decades I let his wings grow out (pretty much from laziness with clipping lol) he did not fly well, and would only do it if startled, otherwise he has absolutely no urge to fly.

Raven and Griffin fledged and became proficient flyers while still with their breeders, so they always had the instinct to fly, and had the strength to fly surprisingly well even when clipped. Since they always had the instinct to fly, and would try all the time anyway, I let them grow out so they don't keep landing on the floor. Now I have to keep an even closer eye on them which is hard sometimes, but being flighted I have to make sure to keep them away from Robin.

You're doing great Amanda. Zilla will be an expert in no time! When I had my Slender Billed Too, she was clipped short before fledging and didn't know how to fly at all until my Ekkie "taught" her how. Being taught by another bird, she learned to maneuver like an expert very quickly.

How wonderful!!! Buddy can fly but Venus is just now learning to glide so we are working on that. Buddy is pretty good, he'll fly to me and land on my arm or shoulder very well. Given Venus' curiosity, I don't know if she getting as mastered as Buddy would be a good thing, I'll never escape her,cool.

Congrats on the great job Zilla!