Vision impairment and flight...

[suileeka]

I've seen a few threads on blind or partially blind parrots, but nothing that specifically addresses flight.

My conure is fully flighted and I don't believe he has ever been clipped. I would prefer him to remain that way, but the poor boy cannot navigate worth a darn!

If he's just a few feet from me, he'll flap his wings, but won't take off - he doesn't seem to have the confidence to even fly in a straight line for a foot or two. If I'm on the other side of the room however, he gets desperate enough to try to fly over to me, but ends up crash landing somewhere else entirely (thankfully he doesn't take off at full throttle - he is somewhat cautious and flies slowly as he tries to figure out where to go).

I would love it if he could somehow learn to navigate despite his impaired vision (he is missing his right eye). Do you think there's hope that he'll learn to compensate? He's 1 year old, and I don't know how much opportunity he got to (attempt to) fly where he was previously. I'm so worried about him getting hurt or losing his confidence from all the crash landings.

 

[Anne & Gang]

well, a lot of them learn to compensate for the lack of vision...I know a lady who had a blind tiel and he flew just fine..and lived a long and happy life...mind you, he had a birdie friend who looked after him...my gut feeling is to clip him, and watch him very very closely so that he knows his limitations...the crash landings cannot be good either..he might be badly hurt...perhaps someone will come on with better suggestions.

 

[JLcribber]

If he's got one good eye, his vision is not the cause of the flight problems. The problem is more than likely the fact that he was not fledged properly or at all.

He can still become a "good" flyer but some of the skills he would have acquired had he been properly fledged may be lost.

 

[Anne & Gang]

so John, do you have some suggestions for this lady? I would like to know for my own information as well? what do you think about clipping? perhaps if she calls to him when he is across the room , he can navigate by sound?

 

[suileeka]

Based on observing his flight pattern, John, I have to disagree with you. I have seven other flighted birds (some of whom have been previously clipped, one who hasn't), and their flying patterns are completely different. Sometimes the previously clipped birds will have a bad landing if they take off due to being startled, but when they're deliberately heading somewhere, they have no problems. Keep in mind that Lior lost his eye after the time he would have fledged.

Watching Lior in flight is very similar to watching him when his blind side is towards the end of a perch. He loses his balance, searches for the end of the perch with his foot, and flails around. I can't imagine someone suggesting that that means he never learned to walk, so to my mind, it is not outlandish to consider that his vision might also affect his flying skills. It's difficult to describe, but the way he circles when in the air makes it apparent to me that his difficulty is vision related.

 

[suileeka]

 

[Anne & Gang]

you know I honestly believe he will eventually learn to compensate for that eye..Is there any way you can give him a light clip in the meantime, until he gets more used to flying in a more orderly manner? then I would have to say you would have to call him and see if he can follow your voice for short distances, and then longer as he gains more confidence and his feathers grow back.

 

[Bokkapooh]

I have seen partially blind wild birds, and yep those crows, seagulls, a Peregine Falcon fly just fine. Infact the falcon was last seen breeding and raising a family last year.

And my friend has an adult 19y.o male U2 who is partially blind and flies and oh.... Opa my 3 y.o U2 is partially blind due to an accident last summer...he flies 100% fine, his landings are often off though..and he is now often a very nervous and shy bird to new things...but he does love to fly still.

 

[Theresa]

Watching Lior in flight is very similar to watching him when his blind side is towards the end of a perch. He loses his balance, searches for the end of the perch with his foot, and flails around. I can't imagine someone suggesting that that means he never learned to walk, so to my mind, it is not outlandish to consider that his vision might also affect his flying skills. It's difficult to describe, but the way he circles when in the air makes it apparent to me that his difficulty is vision related.

His lack of vision in one eye will absolutely cause problems until he learns to compensate for it.
I had to wear a patch on my eye for a week, and I had countless bruises from it, I walked into things, set things down wrong.
Try it, it makes a huge difference in how you do even the simplest things.
Given time, he will learn how to work around his lack of vision. In the mean time I would practice with him over short distances with rewards

 

[suileeka]

Given time, he will learn how to work around his lack of vision. In the mean time I would practice with him over short distances with rewards

Thank you, that is what I have been considering doing - encouraging him to fly to me when he is only a few feet away. Thus far he can't fly in a straight line. Right now we're working on stepping up onto a perch, so we should be able to transition into short distance flights onto the perch.

 

[Monica]

I remember reading that eye-sight has a lot to do with migration. I can't find the article, but it mentioned that if one eye was covered, the birds flew erratically (left?), but if the other eye (right?) was covered, they flew in the correct direction. (could be wrong on which side is which) To test this theory, they used some small species of bird, and designed one sided "eye goggles" or patches(?) that caused blurred vision in that eye.


So it wouldn't surprise me if a bird that only has one eye may have difficulty flying. My first conure was partially blind and going blind, but he never could fly, nor did he try.

 

[Bokkapooh]

I think I remember reading that the left eye in most birds help see flourescent lights, so having that impaired can be difficult for a bird who is use to seeing those colors.

Opas left eye is blind, and his landings are often clumsy, very clumsy and its been 9 months since August, and he is still clumsy with his landings. He also keeps his blind side to the wall and the good eye facing everything.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Please remember that like us parrots have binocular vision and if a creature with binocular vision loses and eye, they no long have depth perception from their sight. They have to learn other ways to judge distance and safety, and usually one of the things they do is slow down physically to give themselves more time to preceive their environment. I am a neurological rehab nurse and have worked with stroke patients who have eye impairment after their stroke and it certainly does throw off their balance, coordination and navigation. We teach the humans to always 'scan' with their intact eye to get a 3D view of their environment, but I don't know how you can do that with a bird; unless you start 'teasing' him with a treat to move his head in a full 180 degree arc: they do this with very young kids to encourage scanning. One thing you can do is actually teach him recall training. That way he will learn to come to your voice, even if he cannot see you. Doing a fledge clip might help slow his flight enough to allow him time to think about landing instead of crashing before he is ready to land. I would not clip him very much or he may never have the courage to try flight again.

One thing I thought of when you said he has problems even on his perch with balance is the accident that took the sight from his one eye may have also damaged his ear and his cochlea, the organ of balance. Does he ever just for no reason fall down? The only therapy for this is experience. He has to learn not to turn his head too quickly and to deal with the on again off again vertigo he may be suffering. If he is deaf in that ear he no longer has the stereo hearing to discern the direction of sounds. Again, we teach scanning with turning the head to pinpoint sounds.

You are doing a great job supporting his handicap. I don't know if an avian vet could help you with his balance issue. But like I said, actual recall training would really help him learn to fly directly TO your voice. Does he always fly in the same room? That is another tip. Never let him fly in a strange room; he won't know how far he can go before the walls close in. Good luck. Hope this helps. I am always so surprised how the rehab tricks I learned for humans transfer so well to parrots.

 

[suileeka]

He also keeps his blind side to the wall and the good eye facing everything.

That's the exact same flight pattern I've seen with Lior. Then he crashes into the wall. I've also seen him trying to climb the wall while his blind side is facing it.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Has he been blind since hatching?

 

[Theresa]

Keep in mind that Lior lost his eye after the time he would have fledged.

Has he been blind since hatching?

No, she answered in one her other posts, quoted above

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

If he had been blind since hatching he would have fledged with a blind eye and be much more used to it. I think she said he was more than a year old.

Is there a TV or radio making noise in the room when he is out? That would bounce off the wall and let him know where it is. Wait. If he is deaf in that ear as well, that won't work. Poor guy really has a tough row to hoe. In that case, only a soft barrier would work, like a fan blowing air against the wall to bounce of the wall. It would interfere with is flight and actually push him away from the wall. Complicated.

 

[Bokkapooh]

No, she answered in one her other posts, quoted above

My apologies, my phone can be quite a butthead and I missed it. Thank-you for answering. Maybe I missed this too, but how old is his injury to the eye?

 

[Theresa]

My apologies, my phone can be quite a butthead and I missed it. Thank-you for answering. Maybe I missed this too, but how old is his injury to the eye?

Nope, not in this thread. I did find his intro thread with more info, here you go http://forums.avianavenue.com/conure-court/49033-liors-story.html

 

[suileeka]

Lois,

I haven't noticed anything that suggests damage to that ear, at least nothing overt. He's pretty coordinated in general, and I've never seen him fall for no reason. In this clip you can see what happens when his blind side is toward the end of a perch (he does catch his balance a few times when differently oriented in the beginning, but I think he just wasn't expecting the door to move):

I was doing some reading yesterday on avian vision - it's very interesting.

Bird Brain II

Evolution of the Avian Visual System

Thinking on the Wing

He is still learning the layout of my room. I was thinking that we might later want to practice flight in a room with fewer distractions, and only two landing stations? Once he learns to fly in a straight line, that is.


eta: Mercedez, I don't know exactly when it occurred.