anyone with experience of free flying amazons?

[lefty13]

I am looking into getting a zon and I am most likely going to train it to free fly. Does anyone free fly their zon? Do they make good fliers and are their behavior different if they are allow free flight compare to indoor flying in short distances. I used to free fly my lovebirds but I had to give them up because of school. Now that school has slowed down I would like a bigger bird to fly. Will they make good fliers or are they more tree bound? Let me know your experience. If you don't have a zon I would like experience from other similar size parrot

 

[Kaya]

Hello, first of all I would like to say that i highly recommend freeflight. If done correctly you wont loose a bird despite what people say. None of my trained free fliers have ever gotten "lost" for more few minutes, and watchign them fly is the most wodnerful thing in the world.

I have never had an amazon and never flown one, but I know many people do. They are an okay choice for fliers however I highly recommend you get TWO. Freeflight training one bird is much harder, and more importantly less safe. Birds are safer in flocks. Predators always go after single birds.The only reason a bird would be alone in the wild is if it is sick or injured, making it a prime target for hawks. If a hawk sees your bird alone it will likely think this.

I fly conures and lories (small birds) and because they are allways together the hawks ignore them.

To answer your questions.

Yes they make good fliers
Yes, their behavior will be different to that of a non-freeflying bird. They will be much more confident, independent, trusting of you and will generally have little to no behavioral/fear issues.

If you didn't have time for love birds YOU WONT HAVE TIME FOR TWO AMAZONS. Wait till you are older and have your own time for birds. I started flying when I went to university and it was a great time to fit it in. High school is too crazy.

Also, make sure you have a car and can drive before you start free-flying larger birds. You might have to drive out far to find appropriate locations to start in. You will need to start somewhere without any trees.

Another thing I would like to stress is the need for a big outdoor aviary. Birds that are trained for freeflight need to be 100% comfortable with the outdoors. I also think its kind of cruel to keep a free-flight trained bird indoors during the day if you are away.

Here are some photos of the aviary I built myself for my flock

Here is a video of my birds flying: [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAGx-zch1Y"]Pet parrots fly outside - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Birdman666]

Yes. I had two zons I used to free fly. A nape and my red lored...

In my opinion, the pair bond birds make THE BEST free flighted birds, precisely because they DO NOT stray far from their pair bond person.

 

[Birdman666]

Hello, first of all I would like to say that i highly recommend freeflight. If done correctly you wont loose a bird despite what people say. None of my trained free fliers have ever gotten "lost" for more few minutes, and watchign them fly is the most wodnerful thing in the world.

If a hawk sees your bird alone it will likely think this.

I fly conures and lories (small birds) and because they are allways together the hawks ignore them.

To answer your questions.

Yes they make good fliers
Yes, their behavior will be different to that of a non-freeflying bird. They will be much more confident, independent, trusting of you and will generally have little to no behavioral/fear issues.

If you didn't have time for love birds YOU WONT HAVE TIME FOR TWO AMAZONS. Wait till you are older and have your own time for birds. I started flying when I went to university and it was a great time to fit it in. High school is too crazy.

Also, make sure you have a car and can drive before you start free-flying larger birds. You might have to drive out far to find appropriate locations to start in. You will need to start somewhere without any trees.

Another thing I would like to stress is the need for a big outdoor aviary. Birds that are trained for freeflight need to be 100% comfortable with the outdoors. I also think its kind of cruel to keep a free-flight trained bird indoors during the day if you are away.


Okay.

I have such mixed emotions about free flight, because I used to believe very strongly in it, and I did free fly my birds. And yes, they are more confident and independent. (Perhaps too confident for their own good... because they still eat out of bowls, and still don't have a flock to protect them from predators. If they ended up out there on their own, without wild foraging skills, they probably wouldn't survive long...)

Mine were indoor and outdoor birds. I got them out everyday, but they lived inside. They didn't seem to mind it. I certainly don't see it as cruel.

You absolutely do need a car, because there may (okay, probably will!) be times when you have to get in it, and follow them while they are learning! I've done that on more than a few occasions... and your heart stops for a few seconds every single time it happens!

Like I said, I used to freefly mine:

Then my sun conure flew back to me at shoulder level - across a parking lot - and got hit by a car. My dusky conure landed in a tree where an owl was roosting, and was promptly eaten. A hawk landed on my outdoor bird tree one day, and my two flighted amazons faceplanted into the window on the other side of the house, hard enough to crack the glass with their heads... I lost my CAG 4 times during training, twice overnight... training was discontinued. My lilac crowned also flew off and had to be tracked down once. (Those two I don't trust. The other three I do.) My RFM had to be tracked down at least twice, and once got stuck on top of a three story roof because she was too chicken to fly down from there, and just sat there holding her foot up squawking for me to pick her up... My red lored flew too close to a crows nest in a park one day. They massed and attacked her. She hid in the top of a 50 foot tree... I had to climb the stupid tree to get her back...

I've had friends whose birds went free flying and never came back. We never learned their fate...

Another friend had a FRIGGIN GREENWING taken by a hawk... hit the bird in the neck from above and behind. The greenwing was defenseless and probably never even saw it coming... When you freefly them, they enter the food chain. It give's them a more natural life, but nature is a cruel B!&$# sometimes... and a hawks gotta eat. They can be very aggressive during nesting season. So, predator habits in your area also factor into the equation...

After that I stopped doing it. I don't freefly anymore. They still get outside every nice day. I take them for walks in the park. They get out in the tree in my front yard every nice day. It's a balance.

So, don't get too cocky. You CAN lose your bird doing this. Especially if they are not well trained, or not bonded to you, or you don't know what you are doing. DO NOT TRY TO LEARN THIS ON YOUR OWN. GET AN EXPERIENCED PERSON TO TEACH YOU THE TECHNIQUES... This is NOT something you can learn watching an internet video!!! There is a lot to know.

Just saying...

 

[RavensGryf]

The OP got a baby Caique instead.

Good info though!

 

[Kaya]

I learnt this by reading a lot of info online, no one physically taught me or helped me.

Its unfortunate you've had such bad experiences. As I said, I've never lost one permanently or even overnight.

I think following these steps helps:
1. I never fly around cars, parking lots, roads
2. I never fly around power lines
3. I never fly less than 4 birds
4. I never leave my birds unattended

Mine never land far away, and as soon as I move out of their sight they follow.
When they are flying sometimes they go far away out of my sight but they always come back and land on/near me.
I think getting them pre-weaned and hand raising them yourself helps a lot with this. They need to have a very very strong bond with you.

 

[Mekaisto]

When flying any bird, it's a question of 'when', not 'if'.
I have been lucky never to have had any of my birds lost or killed, but I know it will happen one day, all I can do is be vigilant and prepared.