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Flying into walls?

Animallover03

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I'm not sure if Levi ever learned how to fly, or what her past was exactly like, but she is awful at flying. Her wings have a feather that looks like it might have been clipped in the past, which would make sense as the place she came from (and Grumbles) clips the babies wings before they even learn to fly :( (Luckily Grumbles did learn still with clipped wings though). And with her previous owners being elderly that makes sense.
Levi flies straight into walls. She only flies if spooked, and then it is like she can't tell where she is going and then runs right into the wall. I am very afraid that she is going to injure herself doing this.
She also has no stamina for flight. She LOVES to flap her wings while holding on to something. I have started doing something where I hold her on my hand, with my thumb over her toes, and then run- and she flaps her wings as if she were flying. (though she is just holding on, but she seems to like it.) But she gets out of breath after flapping for not even 10 seconds. :(

What should I do to help teach her? Even if she can't become a great flier I do want her to not fly into walls.
 

faislaq

I have macaws and don't post enough pictures
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Keep doing what you're doing! :thumbsup: Building those muscles can only help, plus it's great exercise. Several other members gave me the advice to get Buzzard flapping his wings, but when I try he seems off-balance and scared, so we're still practicing but taking it slow. You're way ahead of us.
 

TikiMyn

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What she Said! Also you could try letting her hop between a training perch/your arm and the cage/table/training perch/whatever she prefers, and then slowly increase the distance so she has to hop further and further untill she Will have to flap her wings to get there. I don’t know of that works for big birds though, it did work for me when Fëanor was clipped. But he already new how to fly thankfully.
 

Monica

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Target training. Short and simple. Basically teaching her to fly from point A to point B.

If need be, you can start with a modified step up approach - basically, don't ask her for more than she can give. Set her up for success and build on each step.


 

Love My Zons

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Very dangerous with the walls. If you can place a few easy to land spots. Maybe a t perch, a playstand something familiar to Levi. I know watching my Amazons over the years if they fly out into the great room esp Kazoo, he's like okay where do I land? But when he's in his usual place, landing spots are generally the same places. Easy to navigate too. It's when they don't know where to go it's like watching a drunk driver that will eventually crash land so to say.

Just please be careful (and I know you are)

:hug8:
 

Garet

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Flatter surfaces might also help. Before she really mastered landing, Mims would aim for flatter, wider surfaces, like the top of the tv, the top of the laptop, the.... metal box thingy that I forget the name of but has always been next to our tv.

If you use a playstand, make sure to put something soft under it. Mims would sometimes miss hers and flop onto the blanket I put beneath mine.
 
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