This afternoons activities included...

[Freespin]

Climbing a rather large (ok giant) tree to retrieve one fairly expensive (on my wages) parrot with "clipped" wings who flew out of a window and up into said tree... Needless to say I will be now closing all windows during bird time and amputating this birdies wings as soon as possible! Who would be silly enough to own birds!? It was a very heart racing rescue!

 

[MomtoPercy]

Yikes!! Happy for you that you were able to retrieve him!

I would hold off on the amputations until his airplane arrives though...Can't leave the poor boy completely grounded! And the cardio of retreiving him is good for mommy too

 

[Anansi]

Very scary, Freespin! I'm glad you were able to recover him safely! Which of your birds was it? How high up did he manage to get with clipped wings? And how did you get him back down once you reached him?

 

[Macawspirit]

Glad that you retrieved your bird!!! Phew that was a close call!

 

[drlisaort]

Amazing he flew out the window with clipped wings! Your post is a reminder that no matter what we have to be vigilant clipped or not. Thank you!

 

[solrac13]

Im glad is a happy ending!

And as drlisaort very well says, we canot vigilant enough!

 

[Terry57]

So happy you were able to get him back! So before this, when is the last time you climbed a tree? it has been 40 years for me, yikes, I would have been panicked!

 

[Freespin]

Oh lord I have no idea how long since I climbed a tree although at 21yo it was probably a couple of years off your 40 =p

It was Nelson my eckie who escaped. No idea how high, probably 6 or 7 meters up. I was told the vet clipped them before I got him... Once I got him my partner hoisted up a box on a long stick (he climbed up a way to) and I put him in and lowered him down. The scariest part was I had to shake him down from the branch above me because there was no way I could get to him there. I figured he would either fly off (hopefully to the ground or my partner) or fall to a lower branch. He landed right on the branch I was on which was close enough that he got brave enough to come over to me from there! I have never been so relieved!

 

[Birdman666]

Been there. Done that. More than once... Only mine were already outside, and did not get out through a window.

My red lored used to be free flighted....

Then one day she landed in the top of a 50 foot tree... very close to a crows nest. Well, the crows were not thrilled to have this "intruder" around their babies, so they massed, and attacked her. She climbed way back into the branch brambles where they (and everyone else) could not get to her... and wasn't coming out for anything, or anybody.

So guess who climbed a 50 foot tree to go get her...

One of many reasons why I don't free fly them anymore.

(That one was less tragic than some of the others!)

 

[MarciaLove]

oh my goodness scary!! Yea bigger birds no matter what people say about them being clipped big birds with clipped wings can fly perfectly if they want to!!

 

[Anansi]

Both of those tree stories are scary as hell! Birdman666, I can't imagine how you worked up the courage to try free flight again after a story like that! I think I'd have been done! Lol! How did you manage to get yours down? Same as Freespin?

And do either of you have pics of your birds?

 

[Birdman666]

She was hiding in the top of the tree, and when I climbed up close enough to her, she came out of hiding, and scrambled up my arm to my shoulder.

In her case, it was just the crows beating up on her. This is a bird that spends 7-9 hours a day in the tree in my front yard on the weekends, and comes (or flies) down to me when I call her. She is 110% trustworthy, recalled, and free flight trained...

What ended the free flight training for me was my sun conure flying back to me across a parking lot, and getting hit by a car, and my dusky conure flying into a tree which, unfortunately, contained an owl. Both were fatal incidents, and they broke my heart.

A friend of mine also lost a free flighted and recalled greenwing to a red tailed hawk... so no more free flighting! I USED TO BELIEVE IN IT, NOW I SIMPLY DON'T. THE RISKS OUTWEIGH THE REWARDS.

 

[Anansi]

I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your conures, Birdman666. That really is heartbreaking. Do you harness your birds, now? Or have you stopped taking them outside altogether?

 

[Birdman666]

My birds go outside virtually every nice day. Three of my five are "out and about" trained. I take them all over the place. Especially my greenwing.

None of them are harnessed. They are clipped, semi-flighted, and recalled.
My birds are also "stay put" trained.

It tends to blow people's minds, but I can set my birds down on the back of a chair, or in a tree outside, go in to Starbucks and get my coffee, and come out to find them exactly where I put them....

My red lored has been to the Carnaval parade in SF... 250,000 people, drums, floats, dancers, loud music, and one very happy out and about birdie...

Both my macaws pretty much go everywhere as well...

We go for walks all the time as well. Used to go out nightly.

My Greenwing's favorite thing is laundry day. I bring her big playstand and set it up out in front of the laundry mat, and she sits outside while i do the laundry. I am outside playing with her unless I am folding, or loading, or changing over loads... (Cuz let's face it, laundry is boring!) It's part of her outside time, and part of our 1 on 1 time....

My red lored amazon also has "special tree privileges." Unlike where we were in California, there aren't as many predators around here. So, I frequently just let her go outside and sit in the tree in my front yard, sometimes for as much as 7-9 hours at a time. (She comes down to me when I call her. Every single time, for over 10 years... so I consider her 110% trustworthy.)

The two I don't trust are my CAG who can (and has) spook and fly off on me... and my shy little lilac crowned amazon, for the same reason. NEITHER of those birds like going out and about anyway, (while my other three beg to come every time.) So, those two go out in a tree in my front yard, when I am out there with them to keep an eye on them... otherwise, they are indoor birds.

 

[Freespin]

Thats so cool Birdman! Would love to get to that stage with Nelson. How do you go about it? He is just a baby but i have started recall flight training inside.

This is the tree Nelson ended up in (right at the top!!)


And this is Nelson himself

 

[Birdman666]

One of the funnier things that happened with Sally, my red lored, was at the park we used to go to in NorCal...

Her favorite tree was a fairly tall 20 foot plus birch tree, and she used to just go straight up to the top of it when we got there. (She was fully flighted at the time.) My daughter would play in the playground all afternoon. My birds would play in the tree. And I would kick back under said tree, and relax.

Well, one day this extremely smug person started razzing me about my bird being "stuck" in the tree. (I was sitting under the tree talking to her. He made a few invalid assumptions.) He actually seemed to be enjoying it... and said "I'd like to see how you're gonna get that bird down from there."

So, all I did was start walking back toward the car without her. My bird started calling to me when I got about 20 feet from the tree, and I gave her the recall signal, pointing to my shoulder. Two seconds later she was sitting on my shoulder.

All I said at that point was "She's recalled and bonded to me."

The smug guy shut up.

Now she generally climbs down instead of flying down.

Honestly, I probably don't need to clip her, or Maggie. But I still do.

 

[Birdman666]

That looks a lot like the tree in my front yard.

I've put a lot of time and effort into my training...

And free flight recall is an inexact science. Sometimes they don't come back. That's why I am now against it. I've known several really GREAT birds that never came back. (Including my two fatalities.) So, I now advise against it.

Regular recall training is as much a function of being bonded with your bird as anything. Then you train them to come to you on command, and attach a hand signal to the command. Then, after awhile, you just have to give the hand signal. In fact, sometimes I don't even have to do that. When Sally is ready to come down from the tree she calls to me. I go outside, and down she comes... like I say, more than 10 years of this.

 

[Freespin]

Yea, i dont think i would ever trust enough to free flight, we have quite a few hawks around as well as magpies and plovers and while our hawks wouldn't take on a bird Nelsons size all of those birds would give him a fright and chase him. Dogs are much easier to train =D I mean its awesome to see other peoples birds free flighted but my own is just scary haha

 

[Freespin]

Would love to get them happily out sitting in the sun but that is where a flight aviary would be good =D

 

[Anansi]

Thanks for the pics, Freespin. Nelson is a beautiful bird! And I love the pose. Lol!

And Birdman, the bond you have with your birds sounds amazing! I'd love to get to that point with my Bixby one day! So far, he has picked up swiftly on recall training. But how did you train them to stay put so reliably?