One Step Closer To Taking Flight!

[Blancaej]

Good Morning Everyone! I know I haven't been on much at all lately! Just too much going on in my personal life right now.

But I wanted to share this story with you guys because Savannah was the reason I joined this forum 4 years ago. She was my second bird and I never owned a macaw so I wanted to learn all I could! Everyone here was so great!

For those of you that know me and Savannah, I thought you would enjoy this story.

Anyway, on to my story:

A couple of days ago I was cooking dinner and Morgan yells to me "Mommy, Savannah, Savannah glided!!"

Why is this so important? For those of you that don't know Savannah's story, Savannah was confined in a cage most of the time at her previous home. A cage that was really too small for a macaw that rarely came out of it. She was only let out when guests would come over to "show her off"! She wasn't really able to stretch her wings. When we adopted her she could only stretch her one wing out because her muscles atrophied. I don't think this was the situation the whole time this family had her (18 years mind you) But I do believe that this went on the last 5-10 years they owned her. And they had her in a laundry room with the door closed on top of it. A very unhealthy situation for Savannah both emotionally and physically.

We let her out everyday to stretch and encourage her to flap her wings. So much so that Quincy tells her "good girl" when she flaps. LOL! The atrophy went away in the one wing eventually. Even when the atrophy was gone Savannah still could not fly. She would drop straight down. The vet and I agreed that she totally lost her instinct to fly.

From day one we have encouraged her to flap those wings! And today (a couple of days ago) she used them!! Although she rarely falls, when she does she goes straight down. Which is dangerous as she could break a bone. But not a couple of days ago!! She glided her way down and landed on the base of Coqui's play gym. Gliding is much safer for her. So we are making progress!! Yay!! This months we have had Savannah for 4 years!

I am really bad about taking Savannah from my car to the house/store without a harness. Whenever I take her on walks I ALWAYS use a harness just in case. But now I think it is high time she is in a harness at all times!! But this is a good thing and a major mile stone for my Savannah girl!

Here is a picture of her cute self after landing on the base of Coqui's play gym.

Thank you for letting me share this milestone with you all!

 

[Luckyandjenn]

Wooo hoo way to go Savannah thats exciting i also do the flap flap flap excerises/play with lucky as hes 17 and has only taken flight a couple times from falling off balance lol this is awsome news maby there will be some flying in her near future

 

[chris-md]

Now that's fantastic news Go Savannah!

And that's a lesson - never listen to anyone who says an instinct is lost in an individual. Its never lost (unless you're talking from an entire species), that's why its an instinct. Make no mistake, Savannah the instinct to fly, and clearly has the beginnings of muscle tone. The key is enticing her to do so in conjunction with strengthening her chest muscles.

 

[Blancaej]

Wooo hoo way to go Savannah thats exciting i also do the flap flap flap excerises/play with lucky as hes 17 and has only taken flight a couple times from falling off balance lol this is awsome news maby there will be some flying in her near future

I certainly hope so! That would be a great gift to giver her flight back!

Now that's fantastic news Go Savannah!

And that's a lesson - never listen to anyone who says an instinct is lost in an individual. Its never lost (unless you're talking from an entire species), that's why its an instinct. Make no mistake, Savannah the instinct to fly, and clearly has the beginnings of muscle tone. The key is enticing her to do so in conjunction with strengthening her chest muscles.

Neither the vet or I ever felt she would never fly again. We just knew it would take some work. He just told me to keep her flapping and exercising and hopefully she will want to fly again. And here we are! Baby steps!

 

[SilleIN]

What an amazing story. All I can say is hang in there, it will eventually come.

I have been through the same thing with Sugar. He had never learned to fly as he was clipped during fledging.

This was before he knew how to fly. I made him use his wings to build up muscle tone and also to put a command to the movement of wings.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a55kdqt5f-8&t=2s"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a55kdqt5f-8&t=2s[/ame]

I then moved outside and ran while giving him the "Wings" command. In this video he suddenly flies further than he had ever done. At this point he usually just flew a few metres, so this was a great leap forward (I know the leg harness was not the best option, but back then, I hadn't found a harness that didn't make Sugar freak out)
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0srdU7RMq0w"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0srdU7RMq0w[/ame]

This is Sugars first indoor flight, where he didn't have any accidents. Prior flights indoor had him slamming into the walls or tumbling over during landing At this point we are down to only 3-4 steps before he could lift off
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJMrifFpNQ&feature=youtu.be"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJMrifFpNQ&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

At the beginning of this TV show, you can see, that I can just streach out my arm and give the "Fly" command He has also gotten better at landing, however I doubt he will ever learn how to land on anything other than the ground.
https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/boern/ramasjang/quizdyrene/-/quizdyrene-araen-sugar-2#!/

If there is anything I can do to further Savannahs progress, just let me know I am willing to share every detail if that could be beneficial for you

 

[Luckyandjenn]

Wooo hoo way to go Savannah thats exciting i also do the flap flap flap excerises/play with lucky as hes 17 and has only taken flight a couple times from falling off balance lol this is awsome news maby there will be some flying in her near future

I certainly hope so! That would be a great gift to giver her flight back!

It sure would be i hope and wish for the same for my lucky boy

 

[Blancaej]

What an amazing story. All I can say is hang in there, it will eventually come.

I have been through the same thing with Sugar. He had never learned to fly as he was clipped during fledging.

This was before he knew how to fly. I made him use his wings to build up muscle tone and also to put a command to the movement of wings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a55kdqt5f-8&t=2s

I then moved outside and ran while giving him the "Wings" command. In this video he suddenly flies further than he had ever done. At this point he usually just flew a few metres, so this was a great leap forward (I know the leg harness was not the best option, but back then, I hadn't found a harness that didn't make Sugar freak out)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0srdU7RMq0w

This is Sugars first indoor flight, where he didn't have any accidents. Prior flights indoor had him slamming into the walls or tumbling over during landing At this point we are down to only 3-4 steps before he could lift off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJMrifFpNQ&feature=youtu.be

At the beginning of this TV show, you can see, that I can just streach out my arm and give the "Fly" command He has also gotten better at landing, however I doubt he will ever learn how to land on anything other than the ground.
https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/boern/ramasjang/quizdyrene/-/quizdyrene-araen-sugar-2#!/

If there is anything I can do to further Savannahs progress, just let me know I am willing to share every detail if that could be beneficial for you

Thanks for the great videos. Sounds like you do a good job practicing flight with Sugar!

Wooo hoo way to go Savannah thats exciting i also do the flap flap flap excerises/play with lucky as hes 17 and has only taken flight a couple times from falling off balance lol this is awsome news maby there will be some flying in her near future

I certainly hope so! That would be a great gift to giver her flight back!

It sure would be i hope and wish for the same for my lucky boy

I got my fingers crossed for both of us!