He flies! (With the grace of a cargo jet with a drunken pilot).

[Birdman666]

I do the "human swing" with some of mine to get them to exercise.

Kiwi is so active she doesn't need it, but she likes to play and play rough, so rolling her over on her back and swinging her while she flaps and nibbles at my fingers is "fun" for her.

The macaws LIKE to play ANYTHING. Especially Ruby. I'm thinking of changing her name to "wingnut"!

 

[Kiwibird]

A couple months ago ( after watching a ton of Amazon free-flight YouTube vids) I was/am interested in trying to get Amy into that,and when I posted my thought,Steven, (Boat's) suggested a thorough check-up with Amys' CAV..so just a couple months ago,when I took her and Beebs in for their yearly wellness check,I mentioned to the Doc my interest in free-flight.
The Doc did do a listen to her heart and lungs (air sac) and groped her for muscle tone,and gave the "all's good" for slowly introducing Amy into arm waving and exercise..




Jim

Let me know if Amy will try Kiwi's exercises! It was slow going at first. I'm working on getting him to do controlled short (actual) flights in the living room and will now be also working on setting specific "flight paths", but as of yet have had no success enticing him to fly to me or fly on his own with any grace or style. Kiwi does whatever the heck he wants to do and none of what he doesn't when it comes to training Reading your threads about Amy, it sounds as though she is similarly non-compliant when she wants to be:16:

 

[Kiwibird]

I do the "human swing" with some of mine to get them to exercise.

Kiwi is so active she doesn't need it, but she likes to play and play rough, so rolling her over on her back and swinging her while she flaps and nibbles at my fingers is "fun" for her.

The macaws LIKE to play ANYTHING. Especially Ruby. I'm thinking of changing her name to "wingnut"!

What's the "human swing"? My Kiwi is a ball of energy too and anything involving swinging precariously he's game for. He plays rougher with my husband that he does with me, but I can still do things Joe can't. I can now flip him upside down like a bat on my hand and he'll even occasionally spread his wings and do a big ol batbird display

 

[Birdman666]

I basically hold them by the feet, flip them upside down, swing them all the way up over my head, and then all the way back down until there is a backswing.

On the way up, and on the way back down, they have to flap their wings like mad to maintain their balance...

DO NOT TRY THIS WITH A BIRD THAT IS NOT BITE PRESSURE TRAINED, YOU WILL BLEED!!!

In fact, if your bird is not comfortable being flipped over and playing on his/her back, I'd work on getting them to lay in the palm of your hand first.

My macs, and two of my zons love this game. All four of those birds spend as much time playing with me on their backs as they do on their feet. At any given moment they will just keel over on their own and attack my fingers. So tossing them around a bit doesn't phase them...

Tusk and Lila?! Don't even think about it!!!

 

[Kiwibird]

A brief update-

No real progress per se on him actually flying 'unassisted' but great strides have been made on him learning "flight paths" while doing his flapping exercises on my hands. He now turns himself around that horrendous double turn at the bottom of the stairs! I can also tell he's more familiar with the paths I've set for him because when I deviate off course, he leans in himself to get back on course It's always been a strange sensation to have a big goofy flapping bird on my hand and is getting even stranger now that he is physically moving his body around turns Still can't get him to do it on his own, though I'm less horrified at the prospect of him flying now that he seems to understand solid objects won't move out of the way for him.

 

[SailBoat]

Yaaa, Kiwi!

The process of locking paths into place is something not unlike a Parrot talking (practicing) when we are not around. And, then one day they surprise us when they us it!

There is nothing stranger that 450 - 500 grams of Amazon twisting about on your hand angling into corners! But, it is also up lifting to know that mind is busy working at those things and not the destruction of Humankind!