- Increased access to enrichment and more...
Costs and challenges may include: - Increased risk of fl ying into windows, walls, or out the door, all
leading to potential injury or worse, - Underdeveloped skills can lead the bird to fl y or crash where it
does not wish to, - Access to household items not considered enrichment,
- Increased need for training to stay on appropriate play areas and
out of valuable or potentially dangerous household areas, and - The potential for a serious injury or a fatal accident if the parrot
is spooked into fl ight.
Taking an accurate assessment of these benefi ts and challenges
can save a lot of heartache and stress in the long run. As a huge
proponent of fl ight, the author recognises that training an adult
parrot to fl y is an enormous task and having a fl ighted bird in a
busy home with young people walking in and out of the house
without a lot of care about open doors can create a situation in
which the bird’s life is put in danger. This decision must refl ect the
gravity of the potential consequences.
TAKE IT STEADY AND FAMILIAR
A steady perch is a necessity for fl ight training. Making sure
that the bird can launch off something sturdy and straight is
helpful. When a parrot doesn’t have great muscle tone, it will use
its feet to launch itself and, if its perch wobbles, it can create
miscalculations in its landing, leading to lack of trust and less
take-offs. Ensuring that it has a steady perch that won’t wobble,
and plenty of room to fl ap its wings so it will not hit them on
nearby furnishings, will help create a successful environment.
Another often-overlooked component is to conduct the training
sessions in a familiar space. Taking the bird into an empty room
or garage where it is uncomfortable, or even an outdoor aviary
that the bird isn’t used to yet, will slow progress. New behaviours
are less likely to occur in new environments as the parrot has not
had the opportunity to measure the threat level. This is a natural
part of its behavioural repertoire (much like it refusing to show
off its vocabulary in front of your friends). Taking into account
these small variables can have a huge impact on your sessions.STEP UP AND POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
The fi rst stage is to teach the parrot to step up using positive
reinforcement. This step-up should be so well rehearsed that the
bird should see the visual cue of the hand in step-up position and
race to it to step up. If your parrot does not have the step-up cue
trained in this way, then it’s a relatively straightforward process.
Even if it does have this step ingrained, we can still strengthen
the behaviour to prepare for fl ight training by adding high-
value reinforcers to step-up training and practicing with a few
repetitions in preparation for fl ight training.AS OUR UNDERSTANDING of how to keep our companion
parrots healthy physiologically and behaviourally evolves with
updated veterinary and fi eld research, many companion parrot
owners are asking for fully fl ighted parrots as youngsters, or
allowing their adult parrots’ wings to grow out. That said, many
parrot owners have found that just because a parrot’s wings grow
out does not necessarily mean it will automatically take fl ight, nor
will it necessarily lead to a skilled or confi dent fl yer.
WHEN AND HOW DOES A BIRD LOSE FLIGHT?
In fact, speaking in broad terms, the older a bird is, the less likely
it is that it will fl y of its own volition, or at all. This is due to
learning history and the exact developmental period that the bird
was clipped as a youngster. If it never learned to fl y and its wings
were clipped promptly as they lost blood supply, or when it had
its fi rst crash landings, then the parrot likely does not even regard
fl ying as a form of getting from Point A to Point B.
If it was a confi dent fl yer, lost its ability to fl y, and had some
crash landings that were painful, this can also leave a strong
impact on the parrot’s memory. It sees fl ying as a strongly negative
experience and its wings are not to be trusted.
On the other hand, if the parrot was allowed to properly fl edge at
the appropriate biological window, allowed to fl y, perfect landings,
turns and take-offs from a variety of perches, before its wings
were clipped, chances are much higher that the bird will regain its
ability to fl y well when allowed to regrow its fl ight feathers.
WING LOADING
Another variable that impacts how well a parrot regains its ability
and its willingness to fl y is wing loading. Wing loading is the ratio
of body weight to wing surface area. A parrot that has high wing
loading has a relatively high weight compared to its wing surface
area. Parrots such as Amazons, African Greys and Pionus have
high wing-loading ratios. They tend to fl y like grenades and, if
they crash, they are more likely to damage their keels. Cockatoos,
Cockatiels, conures, lories and some macaws have a lower wing
loading. They are relatively light on their wings. Lower wing-
loaded birds tend to recover fl ight capabilities more easily. These
are, of course, generalisations.
Each parrot is an individual with unique learning history, and
needs to be treated as such in order to be successful. There are
plenty of cockatoos with keel injuries and African Greys that
regain the ability to fl y after being clipped for years. It is, however,
important to take into account anatomy and natural history to
identify what helps create a successful learning environment for
our companions. It’s also important to remember that some older
parrots may not overcome their negative learning history, or may
take many years to do so.
PROS AND CONS OF TRAINING FLIGHT
The pros and cons of fl ight are an important assessment to
address before training even starts. Benefi ts include:
- Improvement to cardiovascular health
- Improvement to lifestyle
- Increase in the ability to make choices
- Flight is a more natural way of life
- Flying is a form of enrichment in and of itself, and
PET PARROT BEHAVIOUR
AUTHOR HILLARY HANKEYTEACHING
Adult Parrots to Fly
Green-winged Macaw approaches landingJ WELCH