When its time to let the budgies out every morning, my husbsnd says: "Release the hounds!" When the budgie fleet takes flight he yells "Pilots to bombardier! Pilots to Bombadier!" The twin fighters, Tiki and Baja, swoop, twist and turn, avoiding all obstacles in their way as Big Fluffy the Bombadier takes off slow and flies straight and low, dropping his poo load precisely on target! (Wherever he wants!)
I love to watch my budgies fly around the room as nature intended. It makes me so sad to know that so many budgies and other captive birds sit in cages waiting for their humans to let them out. Many humans seldom, rarely, or ever do. If someone can't or won't let their budgies fly free, at least give them avian companions and a cage that allows them to fly some. I've found that 48x18x24 inches is the minimum that allows some real fight for birds the size of budgies. Try finding a cage that size with the right bar spacing!
Larger parrots need much larger to fly. I sometimes wonder if captive parrots would pluck if they were not kept in cages they couldn't fly in. A bird not allowed to fly is unnatural. It seems like many larger captive parrots with untrimmed wing feathers can't fly because they missed the window of opportunity to learn when fledglings or their wings were clipped so often they lost the ability when they grew back. It's certainly more convenient for the humans and perhaps safer for the parrots but it seems so wrong on so many levels.
