I almost lost my Macaw: It CAN happen to you! Please clip the wings or get a harness!

[melissasparrots]

Chris Biro regularly free flies his larger Macaws and it has never been an issue.

Someone on a hyacinth list I'm on just lost a blue and gold he'd been free flying for quite some time. It was heart breaking. I think he even went out with Chris a time or two and had the bird responding well in even very challenging situations. The day he lost him, he was just taking a tour of the neighborhood. Nothing challenging going on at all. He got some gorgeous pictures though.

I'm glad our board member got the bird back though.
Melissa

 

[brandy2103]

You do realize that a clipped bird can still fly and once outside, his chance of survival goes down because you just took away his only defense against predators right? I know that you're probably very nervous right now, but rash decisions of clipping should always be put off for a bit so you can have a chance to reflect on the situation. Ultimately, it's your decision to clip or not to clip but it doesn't always lead to the safety that people believe it does. Hawks are also not a big issue with the bigger birds. Chris Biro regularly free flies his larger Macaws and it has never been an issue.

I am very glad that you got Rio back though...it has to be a scary feeling.

Clipping Rio's wings was not a rash decision I assure you...I had two very long days to think about it! Please do not make people believe that Hawks and Raptors in general are not a threat to their birds...that's what your post did! I live near Auburn University, home of a huge Raptor Center. Perhaps you have seen or heard about the Eagles they have recall trained to circle the stadium as we cheer "WAR EAGLE"? I called and spoke with a college graduate in the field who is a highly trained expert on raptors. She informed me my bird was no match for a Hawk or Eagle even with a three foot wingspan. Macaws are light weight to these birds and their talons are made to pick up larger animals. She told me the biggest threat to my bird was a hawk and that Rio glowed to these predators and was "a sitting duck". Animal control officers I talked with yesterday told me the same thing. I do realize that clipped birds still pose a threat regarding escape...but I can pretty well guarantee you Rio can no longer fly 80 to 100 feet into the air like he did yesterday. I have two children that run in and out of my house, and I refuse to keep Rio locked away all the time.

 

[jmfleish]

Someone on a hyacinth list I'm on just lost a blue and gold he'd been free flying for quite some time. It was heart breaking. I think he even went out with Chris a time or two and had the bird responding well in even very challenging situations. The day he lost him, he was just taking a tour of the neighborhood. Nothing challenging going on at all. He got some gorgeous pictures though.

I'm glad our board member got the bird back though.
Melissa

Melissa,

Did this guy lose his bird to a bird of prey or did he just lose his bird?

 

[jmfleish]

Clipping Rio's wings was not a rash decision I assure you...I had two very long days to think about it! Please do not make people believe that Hawks and Raptors in general are not a threat to their birds...that's what your post did! I live near Auburn University, home of a huge Raptor Center. Perhaps you have seen or heard about the Eagles they have recall trained to circle the stadium as we cheer "WAR EAGLE"? I called and spoke with a college graduate in the field who is a highly trained expert on raptors. She informed me my bird was no match for a Hawk or Eagle even with a three foot wingspan. Macaws are light weight to these birds and their talons are made to pick up larger animals. She told me the biggest threat to my bird was a hawk and that Rio glowed to these predators and was "a sitting duck". Animal control officers I talked with yesterday told me the same thing. I do realize that clipped birds still pose a threat regarding escape...but I can pretty well guarantee you Rio can no longer fly 80 to 100 feet into the air like he did yesterday. I have two children that run in and out of my house, and I refuse to keep Rio locked away all the time.

Trust me when I say that your bird could still fly 80 to 100 feet or more just like he did yesterday if you take him outside and anything spooks him. As for the birds of prey, for the bigger birds, they really don't seem to be an issue from everything I've read from other people's experiences who actually DO free fly their larger birds. Your bird may be at a disadvantage on his own outside, but trained right for free flight with lots of banked hours, they can learn to outfly and even run off birds of prey when flying with more than one bird. I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone go out and free fly, it takes a lot of training and most of us do not have the skills to do it. What I am saying is that, those who do free fly have found that birds of prey aren't as big of a deal as people make them out to be, especially for a larger bird, from everything that I've read.

 

[Bokkapooh]

I'm more worried about crows than birds of prey when it comes to loose large parrots such as macaws or even cockatoos. And a 4 clip wing will still allows a bird that is OUTSIDE to go up high in the trees and fly due to difference in air pressure outside, wind, etc. Maybe not inside the house, but outside, most definitely as it happens all the time.

 

[Ziggymon]

Brandy, I think that the only thing people are trying to tell you is to not be lulled into a false sense of security by clipping Rio's wings because it's just that - false. People on here have just seen too many instances of clipped birds still flying high and getting lost/killed. No one wants that to happen to Rio, which is why people are warning you to not take him out without a harness or in a carrier. It's not an ego ("I'm right and you're wrong") kind of thing - it's a safety thing.

 

[melissasparrots]

Melissa,

Did this guy lose his bird to a bird of prey or did he just lose his bird?

I don't think he knows what happened. I know in his search he noticed a pair of red tails nearby. From my understanding the bird flew over some houses and was expected to circle back like he always does. But he never appeared. There was a possibility of some sightings, but I'm not sure if it was ever confirmed to be his bird. Then the sightings stopped. I think he's given up the search. Its been over a month. That person adored his bird. I loved his free flight stories. It seemed to be one of those super special human bird relationships.
Melissa

 

[Ziggymon]

Birds of prey will take chickens without a second thought, and chickens outweigh hawks by a lot. Predators are pretty savy about what is vulnerable to them, regardless of size. Crows aren't even birds of prey, and they pose a serious hazard to escaped companion birds of every size, as Mercedez said and has pesonally experienced.