Attitude from my diva!

This is what I "deal" with on a daily basis.

[ame="https://youtu.be/RpXAnxuAluo"]Macaw Temper Tantrum - YouTube[/ame]

lol, so funny how she reacted when you said "no flying it's raining"

Omg, how funny that she pushed your head away with her foot lol ! How disrespectful to her dad :11:!

How could you tell her no flying?!? Meanie!!!!

LOL what a cutie! I love mac voices, they sound so funny

Super adorable, Stephen!! It's so obvious how much Kyleigh loves you - AND vice versa.

Please give her some lovin' from me today, too.

Haha! Thanks for posting this! You’ve got an amazing bond with this bird, Stephen.

Haha thanks folks. She has so much personality. It's fun to watch. And yeah I got kicked it in the face by a macaw.

That is funny. Great video . She has such personality

Her talking back to you - pure magic.

Thanks for sharing.

too cute!!

I love this video! More please.

She's precious!

That's one of those things about "outside" birds. When they are kept inside, they get restless, and don't you know it!

I have three that make it absolutely clear they want to go outside... NOW!!!

But Daaaaad, it's flying time... whadya mean it's raining?! I wanna go outside...

My big red bird has now had a little too much outside time. I'm looking forward to telling her it's time to come in...

Hopefully tomorrow... very hopeful at this point!

And if not, we make 5,000 more phone calls tomorrow.

And you thought YOU were OCD?!

Yeah, um... that's my baby lost out there! I WILL FIND HER!

You've got nerves of steel mark. If I experienced the fly offs you have (Maggie makes three I'm aware of from your stories), I'd be beside myself, cower and never even think about it again. But you soldier on, and keep free flying because it's what's best for your birds. I really respect that.

This is the first time I've lost Maggie.

I didn't lose Sally, but she did get attacked by crows, and get stuck in the top of a 50 foot tree I had to climb...

And she did miss our tree, and end up in the neighbor's tree.

And free flew around the neighborhood, and hid out from a predator.

I lost sweepea twice.

I lost Tusk NO LESS THAN FIVE TIMES, AND I DON'T FREE FLY HIM, SO MUCH AS HE PANICS EASILY...

Lila flew into a neighbor's yard.

Then the really sad ones: Demitre tried to "make friends" with a great horned owl, as in, flew into the owl's burrow, and snuggled up...

The owl was more interested in lunch...

Papaya got hit by a car flying back to me, too low.

IT HAPPENS... Out and about birds occasionally get lost and you've got to go find them. Every once in awhile you don't get there fast enough...

They enter the food chain the minute the door opens.

But it gives them an exceptional quality of life if you do it right, with only moderate risk.

The risk can never be eliminated. Even the best free fliers have lost birds. Including the guy who wrote most of the protocols on free flying, and on finding them when they get lost. (Yeah, we had a very long conversation about how to find Maggie yesterday! He's from Cali, my old stomping grounds.)

ALL OF MY POSTS ADVISE AGAINST TRYING TO LEARN THIS ONE YOURSELF... EVEN WITH ADVANCED TRAINING, THE RISKS CANNOT BE COMPLETELY ELIMINATED.

BUT... my free flighted birds get restless when they haven't flown in too long. You can actually see the change in personality...

If you freefly, eventually you will go looking for them... It's not a question of will it happen, but how often. (That depends on their training.)

Maggie's been going out for almost a decade. This is the first time she's ever flown off on me, and actually she followed her training until a human being interfered with her and spooked her off...

I blame me, for putting her in that position, even though I'm trying very hard not to kick myself....

It's kind of like skydiving. Sooner or later, you will have a cutaway, and a reserve ride. How many you have depends on how good of a job you do at packing your chute... Trash packers pack faster and make more jumps, BUT they also have more cutaways... and occasionally they get killed or injured.

I've actually yet to experience my first cutaway...

Same with free fly training. Do it right, and about once every five to ten years you have to go looking for them.

Do it wrong? Every time you step outside, it's a ticking time bomb. It WILL blow up in your face, it's just a question of how soon is it going to happen...

That's my honest opinion. No sugar coating...

Most folks aren't cut out for it.

Very well said Mark. And true. Free flying requires a lot off training from the bird and owner. It is worth the risk, and the risk are minimal when properly trained. But you always have to be prepared

Very sweet vid of Kyleigh Stephen... I dunno, Mark and Stephen, I must say you have big ones lol,and a lot of confidence in your birdies and yourself in training for free flying.. I kicked the notion around in my head once or twice on trying to train Amy...in 26 yrs she has only "flown" maybe three times,and that was only because something startled her,and being fully feathered at the time < I don't trim her arms in the winter> she didn't make it 5 feet lol.

I'd be devastated if I lost her outside :31:


Jim

I wouldn't say the risks are minimal, but they may be worth it.

You have to understand that things happen which could result in you losing your bird forever no matter how well trained they are.