Pictures He can fly!

[CStone]

I'm not sure if anyone remembers me, but I had what I have since discovered is an all too common problem of having a bird that couldn't fly/steer/land and had kept him clipped for fear of having him injure himself.

Well, it's been many months of practice and patience and moulting and preening, but we have success! Coco is officially a flyer! He now flies laps around the living room with his partner , Athena. I would have never thought it was possible. Although I am not a very active member here(I tend to post in spurts and then disappear for a bit), my birds and I have benefited greatly from the information and links I found at this forum. A big thank you to those who run this place and contribute here. I have two fully flighted birds!

Here he is!

Check out those feathers! None missing!

And Athena trying to steal the spotlight:

 

[Jeddy]

Way to go Coco. Great pictures. Thanks

 

[sunnysmom]

That's great! And what pretty birds.

 

[Odin]

I know how you feel!! Odin is flying now too, with his beautiful tiel feathers just growing like mad! I agree, this site has helped me and the fids immensely!

 

[Jaguar]

I sure do love seeing those beautiful full flight feathers

I really hate that argument though! "They're bad at flying/crash into things so I keep them clipped for safety" well no kidding... you cut their feathers, they can't fly, they lose their developed flight muscles, probably gain quite a bit of weight... maybe forget how to fly, or maybe they were never even fledged in the first place... it's like expecting someone who's not a pilot to hop in a plane with smashed up wings and fly it like they've been doing it their whole lives! Let them grow out, do some flight exercises, and be patient... even the worst fliers will get better with time and practice. Phoenix and I still have a way to go but we're getting there slowly!

 

[Diesel13]

That's great! I'm so happy for Coco

 

[Mr Peepers]

Congrats on having happy flying fids.

 

[CStone]

I sure do love seeing those beautiful full flight feathers

I really hate that argument though! "They're bad at flying/crash into things so I keep them clipped for safety" well no kidding... you cut their feathers, they can't fly, they lose their developed flight muscles, probably gain quite a bit of weight... maybe forget how to fly, or maybe they were never even fledged in the first place... it's like expecting someone who's not a pilot to hop in a plane with smashed up wings and fly it like they've been doing it their whole lives! Let them grow out, do some flight exercises, and be patient... even the worst fliers will get better with time and practice. Phoenix and I still have a way to go but we're getting there slowly!

It's a tough call to make when you have a bird like this because he has had several scary injuries after being startled into a flight response and the first instinct I had was to protect him from having it happen again. Plus, there are numerous avian vets, books, and websites that tell you clipping is the only responsible thing to do. I thought I was doing the right thing.

Obviously, after much reading, I did decide that the benefits of flight outweigh the risks as long as I could get him to do it safely. I'm pretty sure he was clipped before he was fully fledged and I am at least his third "forever" home so, consequently, he has some trust issues and doesn't like to be told what to do . I can't take full credit for the flight lessons because he does have an experienced flight partner who he wants to follow by instinct. Athena is an excellent flyer and is eager to train so she's been a big help.

Now that Coco is a flyer, he has got some serious birdie mojo going on. He's not such a crotchety old man anymore. I've seen a rise in confidence as well as energy level. I would certainly never clip again.

I've been looking for a new vet and the most highly recommended one within an hour of my home has a care sheet available through the office's website that flat out tells you to clip all birds for safety. Now I don't know if I should go with them because I don't want them to consider me irresponsible for not clipping. They really are highly recommended....SIGH

 

[Birdbabe]

Beautiful Wingies!!

 

[Jaguar]

It's a tough call to make when you have a bird like this because he has had several scary injuries after being startled into a flight response and the first instinct I had was to protect him from having it happen again. Plus, there are numerous avian vets, books, and websites that tell you clipping is the only responsible thing to do. I thought I was doing the right thing.

Obviously, after much reading, I did decide that the benefits of flight outweigh the risks as long as I could get him to do it safely. I'm pretty sure he was clipped before he was fully fledged and I am at least his third "forever" home so, consequently, he has some trust issues and doesn't like to be told what to do . I can't take full credit for the flight lessons because he does have an experienced flight partner who he wants to follow by instinct. Athena is an excellent flyer and is eager to train so she's been a big help.

Now that Coco is a flyer, he has got some serious birdie mojo going on. He's not such a crotchety old man anymore. I've seen a rise in confidence as well as energy level. I would certainly never clip again.

I've been looking for a new vet and the most highly recommended one within an hour of my home has a care sheet available through the office's website that flat out tells you to clip all birds for safety. Now I don't know if I should go with them because I don't want them to consider me irresponsible for not clipping. They really are highly recommended....SIGH

It's so much easier to access information about parrot husbandry & care these days... mostly thanks to the internet. Many years ago, parrots were clipped without thought and fed strictly seed diets. It's improved leaps and bounds recently... we now have so many more people leaving their birds flighted, many manufacturers of high quality foods like pellets, and plenty of bird safe cages, toys, etc. to choose from... and all sorts of info from basic care sheets to scientific journals/studies are available at our fingertips

Sadly, there are so many people still "in the dark" about their care. AA is a tiny, tiny fraction of all parrot owners. And let's face it - the large majority of parrot owners are not what we would consider good owners. A lot of people clip their birds simply because it is more convenient to them... instead of making the home fit the bird, they make the bird fit the home. Just like some owners are still in the dark, some vets are still in the dark too.

Just my 0.02, but I would never ever give my money/support/endorsement to a vet who is anti flight.

 

[cassiesdad]

It's so much easier to access information about parrot husbandry & care these days... mostly thanks to the internet. Many years ago, parrots were clipped without thought and fed strictly seed diets. It's improved leaps and bounds recently... we now have so many more people leaving their birds flighted, many manufacturers of high quality foods like pellets, and plenty of bird safe cages, toys, etc. to choose from... and all sorts of info from basic care sheets to scientific journals/studies are available at our fingertips

Sadly, there are so many people still "in the dark" about their care. AA is a tiny, tiny fraction of all parrot owners. And let's face it - the large majority of parrot owners are not what we would consider good owners. A lot of people clip their birds simply because it is more convenient to them... instead of making the home fit the bird, they make the bird fit the home. Just like some owners are still in the dark, some vets are still in the dark too.

Just my 0.02, but I would never ever give my money/support/endorsement to a vet who is anti flight.

You are spot on...there are so many people that are still "in the dark" concerning good avian care. I think about how much I've learned in almost 30 years of having avians in my life.
You are also correct, AA is just a small number of parrot owners. That's why we all must be diligent to bring people "into the light"...