Flying into windows and walls

[jousze]

Hello back everyone.
A friend of mine got a new feather friend (a female eclectus) and he is having some trouble. She is only 4 to 5 months old and it’s been more or less a week she is in his house.
The problem is thag when she tries to fly she always go straight into the window, the ceiling or the wall. I saw her hitting the wall and she even lost head feathers and had a red mark on the head.

I don’t really know how to help, does any of you have any idea?
Thank you!

 

[Scott]

Please caution your friend a hard impact can kill or seriously injure! Not just the head, but any body part. One of my Timneh Greys had unexpected scare and flew into a wall, breaking a leg. It was surgically pinned and he fully recovered.

First, the age old discussion of free flight vs wing clipping for safety. I'm not going suggest either without full knowledge of the situation, but your friend should consider each viewpoint and make informed decision.

Some parrots are naturally skilled fliers, others not so much. I don't know if there is any guidance specifically for Eclectus or any species. One technique some use is to place the bird in hand and carefully walk around the entire environment, "showing" them each wall, window, mirror, piece of furniture as obstacle. I've never tried this so cannot vouch for the effectiveness!

 

[wrench13]

With the above advice in mind, some parrots can learn what 'glass' and 'mirrors' are by bringing them up close to these and letting them tap their beaks on the surfaces. This apparently needs to be reinforced periodically, so they keep the relationship in mind. Long time member Gail and her parrot the Rickeybird do this and he's window/mirror proofed.

 

[SailBoat]

Truly great advice provided above, all of which is well worth passing along to your friend. Very young, new fliers are working at developing a vast number of skill sets needed for safe flight.

Since this relationship, like this Parrot, is very young and it is very possible that the two of them have yet to develop a bond and are possible still working on Step-Up. Just a guess, but very possible. If true, your friend needs to spend a bunch of time walking the room and home. I call this the Real Estate Agent's Introduction of the room and home to the Parrot. This allows the two of them to get better introduced and the Parrot more comfortable with the owner.

The goal is to teach safe flight paths and safe landing zones. It is also used to teach that walls, doors, windows, etc... are hard surfaces. Using the tapping method talked about above, one brings the Parrot up to the surface beak to surface and you tap on the surface to confirm that it is hard.

Also, as stated above, it is not a one time walk-about, it needs to be repeated until the Parrot has it locked into muscle memory.

BUT, first confirm if the two of them even have a working relationship and that the Parrot will step-up and stay on his hand...