EllenD
New member
- Aug 20, 2016
- 3,979
- 68
- Parrots
- Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
So I had the most awful, scary, and at times horrifying 24-hours from Friday evening around 5:30 through until Saturday afternoon around 2:30 that I have ever had with regards to my Fids...Lita, my 3 year-old Blue Quaker Parrot, flew out my sliding-glass door around 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening when I let the dogs out...33 years of being a Parront and Breeder/Hand-Raiser (since I was 6) and I still didn't realize that she was on my shoulder when I stepped outside the door literally one, single step to move a potted-plant over out of the rain on my patio...Then the neighbor's dog barked at my dogs through the fence, and this freaked Lita out, and suddenly I remembered she was on my shoulder as she took-off in the rain-storm...Which turned into literally the strongest, most heavy down-pour we've had in years here in central PA about 30-seconds after she flew outside and doubled-back over the roof of my house into the front-yard. I ran through the house and out the front-door yelling all our "Contact-Calls", but the rain was so loud and heavy that it's all you could hear for about 5 minutes...After the rain slowed-down to a light drizzle I was faced with another major problem, the fact that the Sun had just started to go-down, and that's of course when all the wild-birds start their own Contact-Calling to their Flockmates to make sure everyone is alive, safe, and all in the same tree for the night...So I could hardly hear anything...Luckily Quakers have the most unique voices, sounds, whistles, etc., and Lita started Contact-Calling me right back from a tree in the back of my side-yard, between my property and my neighbor's property....This started our nightmare...
I want people to learn from this awful, heartwrenching, and at times terrifying story, and it's eventual happy and lucky ending...From both the things I've done right, and the things I've done wrong as a Parront. I don't have a clue why I've been so lucky for most of my life when it comes ot my Fids...I did lose one Fid, my little baby Green Cheek Izzy who fell as a young baby and died from a head-trauma...But I had only had Izzy for a very short time, it crushed me and was very difficult, but my bond with her was not even close to the bonds I have with all of my Fids now, or of my past Fids...My first bird was a Budgie bred and hand-raised by my mom and given to me when I was 6, and he lived to be almost 19 years-old, and went through all 4-years of college with me! And we've had some really horrible injuries in the last 3 years, all of which they not only survived, but that they've all 100% recovered from....And not any of my Fids, not one in 33 years, has ever been sick with an illness.
]But I was CERTAIN that I had lost my little Blue baby yesterday, I had no doubt, and I was sick and crying and didn't know what to do, almost paralyzed with my grief and guilt, and anger towards myself...How stupid could I be...And still, somehow, by some miracle, I got her back, and she's fine....My great luck and fortune is not at all wasted on me, as I know of all the people on this forum who have lost their own Fids outside and who have not ever seen them again, not from the moment they first flew away...And we're talking Parrots who were professionally Recall-Trained and Free-Fly trained...I Recall-Trained all of my birds as young babies, but I'm not a professional bird-trainer, and I certainly have NEVER even thought about Free-Flying any of my Fids...So I have to give all of you who have lost your Fids to never see them again credit, because that feeling of "Not Knowing" where they are, if they're okay, if they're even alive, well I can't imagine feeling that for any longer than I did, which was only a few hours at a time, a couple of times over the span of about 24-hours...
And after what I saw happen to my little baby girl yesterday I can't even imagine why ANYONE would ever purposely put their own birds at that kind of risk, purposely put them in that type of great danger and FEAR...And if you have a small or medium size parrot and you're either thinking about Free-Flying them or you already are Free-Flying them, please, just stop. Don't. There was just a post a couple of days ago by a new member asking about the differences between a Green Cheek Conure and a Quaker Parrot because he's planning on bringing-home one or the other as his first parrot, and he ended his post by stating that he's planning on Free-Flying whichever bird he finally brings home of the two...And to that new member I would ask you to read the remainder of this post and my Quaker Parrot's story, because there is NO WAY IN HELL YOU SHOULD FREE-FLY ANY SPECIES OF PARROT THAT ISN'T THE SIZE OF A FULL-SIZE MACAW, A LARGE COCKATOO SPECIES LIKE AN UMBRELLA, MOLUCCAN, OR ONE OF THE LARGER CORELLA'S, A GREAT-BILLED PARROT, ETC.
So basically Friday night was lost to us. I brought out Lita's T-Stand to the yard, then went back, disassembled her cage, and brought it out as well, with a large stainless-bowl that she would recognize as her's full of pellets and seed-mix, and then another full of Almonds, Pine-Nuts, and Sunflower Seeds. I kept talking to Lita while she was up in this really high tree, though I couldn't see her (bright blue bird and I couldn't find her, lol)...But I could hear her and I recognized her voice immediately...But as the Sun went down and all of the wild birds went silent, so did Lita. Around 9:30 I knew she was going to be outside all night, in the cold and the rain (it was in the high 50's-low 60's Friday night, so that's not too bad, but it rained all night long)...I didn't know what to do, the thought of me going inside to sleep all night while my baby was outside in the cold rain and up in that really high tree just killed me, it didn't seem right...I sat outside until almost midnight with an LED lantern hanging from her T-Stand and then my LED work-light that I use when working on my car into the night pointed at her cage, so she could see them both all night long...At about midnight I was freezing, my clothes and my hair were soaked-through, so I had to go inside...I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. but I didn't sleep 1 minute. I left the TV on all night and waited for the sun to start to come-up Saturday morning...
As soon as I started to hear the wild-birds outside start to chip (around 4:20 a.m.) I got dressed and headed outside...This time I had help, as I put the Aviator-Harness on Bowie and took him outside with me, as he is the closest to Lita in our Flock, and they often call back and forth to each other all day long, every day...Before yesterday I used to get so annoyed by the two of them yelling back and forth all day long, but now they can do it as much as they want to!!! I didn't know where Lita was, if she was in the same tree, if she was miles away...I knew my freaking neighbor across the street was probably going to call the Cops on me as she always does about everything, but I didn't care and I started calling to Lita at around 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (she's the one who watched the cat from down the street kill my duck in the front-yard, watched me giving him CPR and trying to save him, and not only did nothing to even try to help, just stood and stared, but she is also the one who went right down the street to inform the owner of the cat that I had kicked her cat while it was killing my duck...Lovely person)...And she called right back to me, but from an even taller tree in my neighbor's yard next-door, right over her deck and her above-ground pool deck...They are extremely nice people and have been there for years now, and I they have lots of animals and I knew they would understand...So I brought Lita's T-Stand, Cage, and the bowls of food over onto not only their pool-deck, but also the deck of their house (which is elevated at the second-story of their house, so closer to the tree-top)...And they didn't care one bit, even when I spelled the seeds/pellets all over their pool-deck...
So I stood there for about 2 hours calling to Lita from their deck, from the ground, and then from the back-yard of their neighbor on the other side of their house, because the end of the brand Lita was on was actually over their yard...This tree is one of those really old, towering Oaks that is hundreds of feet tall, and Lita was at the top...And here is mistake #1 that I have made with all of my birds...I DID NOT TRAIN ANY OF MY BIRDS HOW TO DESCEND FROM A HIGH PLACE...And this is a very common issue with pet birds who get up in the top of trees...They can always fly upwards and always fly straight-across with no issue at all, but they ALWAYS have problems not only climbing/jumping down the tree from branch to branch (which is easiest and what you should train them to do), but it's even more difficult for them to fly downwards from a high tree-branch, INCLUDING JUST FLYING FROM A HIGH TREE-BRANCH TO THE GROUND, WHETHER WE'RE TALKING THE GROUND DIRECTLY UNDER THE TREE (STRAIGHT-DOWN/DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH THEM) OR DOWN ON THE GROUND WAY OUT IN FRONT OF THE TREE...So if I could give any advice regarding things that you need to train ALL of your Fids to do when they are young babies or when you first bring them home is you need to teach them/train them how to "Descend" from a high place downwards. And after what I just went through I would advise that you work on teaching them to simply "hop" or jump downwards from branch-to-branch, as that's what they seem to do naturally, and is also absolutely less-scary for them than flying downwards is. And i wouldn't have thought that before yesterday.
I want people to learn from this awful, heartwrenching, and at times terrifying story, and it's eventual happy and lucky ending...From both the things I've done right, and the things I've done wrong as a Parront. I don't have a clue why I've been so lucky for most of my life when it comes ot my Fids...I did lose one Fid, my little baby Green Cheek Izzy who fell as a young baby and died from a head-trauma...But I had only had Izzy for a very short time, it crushed me and was very difficult, but my bond with her was not even close to the bonds I have with all of my Fids now, or of my past Fids...My first bird was a Budgie bred and hand-raised by my mom and given to me when I was 6, and he lived to be almost 19 years-old, and went through all 4-years of college with me! And we've had some really horrible injuries in the last 3 years, all of which they not only survived, but that they've all 100% recovered from....And not any of my Fids, not one in 33 years, has ever been sick with an illness.
]But I was CERTAIN that I had lost my little Blue baby yesterday, I had no doubt, and I was sick and crying and didn't know what to do, almost paralyzed with my grief and guilt, and anger towards myself...How stupid could I be...And still, somehow, by some miracle, I got her back, and she's fine....My great luck and fortune is not at all wasted on me, as I know of all the people on this forum who have lost their own Fids outside and who have not ever seen them again, not from the moment they first flew away...And we're talking Parrots who were professionally Recall-Trained and Free-Fly trained...I Recall-Trained all of my birds as young babies, but I'm not a professional bird-trainer, and I certainly have NEVER even thought about Free-Flying any of my Fids...So I have to give all of you who have lost your Fids to never see them again credit, because that feeling of "Not Knowing" where they are, if they're okay, if they're even alive, well I can't imagine feeling that for any longer than I did, which was only a few hours at a time, a couple of times over the span of about 24-hours...
And after what I saw happen to my little baby girl yesterday I can't even imagine why ANYONE would ever purposely put their own birds at that kind of risk, purposely put them in that type of great danger and FEAR...And if you have a small or medium size parrot and you're either thinking about Free-Flying them or you already are Free-Flying them, please, just stop. Don't. There was just a post a couple of days ago by a new member asking about the differences between a Green Cheek Conure and a Quaker Parrot because he's planning on bringing-home one or the other as his first parrot, and he ended his post by stating that he's planning on Free-Flying whichever bird he finally brings home of the two...And to that new member I would ask you to read the remainder of this post and my Quaker Parrot's story, because there is NO WAY IN HELL YOU SHOULD FREE-FLY ANY SPECIES OF PARROT THAT ISN'T THE SIZE OF A FULL-SIZE MACAW, A LARGE COCKATOO SPECIES LIKE AN UMBRELLA, MOLUCCAN, OR ONE OF THE LARGER CORELLA'S, A GREAT-BILLED PARROT, ETC.
So basically Friday night was lost to us. I brought out Lita's T-Stand to the yard, then went back, disassembled her cage, and brought it out as well, with a large stainless-bowl that she would recognize as her's full of pellets and seed-mix, and then another full of Almonds, Pine-Nuts, and Sunflower Seeds. I kept talking to Lita while she was up in this really high tree, though I couldn't see her (bright blue bird and I couldn't find her, lol)...But I could hear her and I recognized her voice immediately...But as the Sun went down and all of the wild birds went silent, so did Lita. Around 9:30 I knew she was going to be outside all night, in the cold and the rain (it was in the high 50's-low 60's Friday night, so that's not too bad, but it rained all night long)...I didn't know what to do, the thought of me going inside to sleep all night while my baby was outside in the cold rain and up in that really high tree just killed me, it didn't seem right...I sat outside until almost midnight with an LED lantern hanging from her T-Stand and then my LED work-light that I use when working on my car into the night pointed at her cage, so she could see them both all night long...At about midnight I was freezing, my clothes and my hair were soaked-through, so I had to go inside...I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. but I didn't sleep 1 minute. I left the TV on all night and waited for the sun to start to come-up Saturday morning...
As soon as I started to hear the wild-birds outside start to chip (around 4:20 a.m.) I got dressed and headed outside...This time I had help, as I put the Aviator-Harness on Bowie and took him outside with me, as he is the closest to Lita in our Flock, and they often call back and forth to each other all day long, every day...Before yesterday I used to get so annoyed by the two of them yelling back and forth all day long, but now they can do it as much as they want to!!! I didn't know where Lita was, if she was in the same tree, if she was miles away...I knew my freaking neighbor across the street was probably going to call the Cops on me as she always does about everything, but I didn't care and I started calling to Lita at around 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (she's the one who watched the cat from down the street kill my duck in the front-yard, watched me giving him CPR and trying to save him, and not only did nothing to even try to help, just stood and stared, but she is also the one who went right down the street to inform the owner of the cat that I had kicked her cat while it was killing my duck...Lovely person)...And she called right back to me, but from an even taller tree in my neighbor's yard next-door, right over her deck and her above-ground pool deck...They are extremely nice people and have been there for years now, and I they have lots of animals and I knew they would understand...So I brought Lita's T-Stand, Cage, and the bowls of food over onto not only their pool-deck, but also the deck of their house (which is elevated at the second-story of their house, so closer to the tree-top)...And they didn't care one bit, even when I spelled the seeds/pellets all over their pool-deck...
So I stood there for about 2 hours calling to Lita from their deck, from the ground, and then from the back-yard of their neighbor on the other side of their house, because the end of the brand Lita was on was actually over their yard...This tree is one of those really old, towering Oaks that is hundreds of feet tall, and Lita was at the top...And here is mistake #1 that I have made with all of my birds...I DID NOT TRAIN ANY OF MY BIRDS HOW TO DESCEND FROM A HIGH PLACE...And this is a very common issue with pet birds who get up in the top of trees...They can always fly upwards and always fly straight-across with no issue at all, but they ALWAYS have problems not only climbing/jumping down the tree from branch to branch (which is easiest and what you should train them to do), but it's even more difficult for them to fly downwards from a high tree-branch, INCLUDING JUST FLYING FROM A HIGH TREE-BRANCH TO THE GROUND, WHETHER WE'RE TALKING THE GROUND DIRECTLY UNDER THE TREE (STRAIGHT-DOWN/DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH THEM) OR DOWN ON THE GROUND WAY OUT IN FRONT OF THE TREE...So if I could give any advice regarding things that you need to train ALL of your Fids to do when they are young babies or when you first bring them home is you need to teach them/train them how to "Descend" from a high place downwards. And after what I just went through I would advise that you work on teaching them to simply "hop" or jump downwards from branch-to-branch, as that's what they seem to do naturally, and is also absolutely less-scary for them than flying downwards is. And i wouldn't have thought that before yesterday.