Written by Pam Clark, all rights reserved.
From a discussion involving changes to the list due to the potential for people to be slow learners or lose birds - started after the recovery of a young African Grey who was lost overnight due to an "obvious" owner error.
Chris,
This is unlikely to help much, but I do have some thoughts. My point will be
that you are personalizing something that has nothing to do with you or the
manner in which information has been disseminated on the list.
Part of the problem occurs because of the individual ability each of us has to
learn. Some people do not learn well by reading the written word.
Some also have a tendency to only read some of the posts offered, so that they
only get part of the information. Some do not have good comprehension when
they read. Some have such a high opinion of their previous training skills
with other species (animals) that they do not fully place themselves in a
"beginners" position when attempting something new with another
species. Some are unable to distinguish with ease "who" should be
listened to. In my experience, your advice has been clear and so has that
of the others who free fly outdoors. I don't think you have to do anything
differently. For someone to say that they didn't understand that free
flight outdoors was a serious issue because list members joke occasionally is
ludicrous.
When birds belonging to newer list members get lost (temporarily or
permanently), it often is not because of what hasn't been said, or because of
unclear advice. It is because the body of knowledge they are still working
with...all of their beliefs about "what" their bird is... is one they
have gained from having clipped birds and reading advice that pertains only to
clipped birds. Anyone who has some experience with flighted parrots
understands the likelihood of the startle response, especially outdoors. Anyone
who has experience with flighted parrots knows that they will fly. Flighted
parrots display their full range of behaviors and skills, so that we get to
finally understand the nature of the creature. When an individual has only
lived with clipped birds, and especially if their hands-on experience is
limited, they will have a vision and understanding of their bird that is false
and does not reflect the bird's true nature. Thus, that person will make
decisions that are wrong because they don't understand the nature of the
creature in their hands. Intellectually, they recognize that their bird has the
physical ability to fly, but it takes longer for their comprehension of their
bird's nature to evolve into one that truly reflects the bird itself. Only
then can they accurately interpret what their bird will do in a given situation.
I don't think I'm being clear here, so I'm going to give an example. I
frequently encounter what I have come to think of to myself the "teddy bear
syndrome" or the "soulmate syndrome." This occurs when some
owners keep clipped birds. Because the bird is clipped, its ability to
assert itself is limited. Thus, the owner can more easily develop a rather
skewed view of the bird. If the owner is lonely, as some are, they focus
on their "relationship" with the bird... who becomes rather like a
teddy bear in some ways. Just a little smarter. I had two people
recently come up to me and declare that their parrot was their soulmate. None of
us that has kept flighted parrots is going to mistake one of them for a teddy
bear or a soulmate.
And, as we often discuss, these losses that occur due to a lack of understanding
of the parrot himself occur all the time with clipped birds also. I
can't count the number of times I've heard, "Gee, I didn't think he could
fly with only a couple of flight feathers grown out."
One reason I am so passionate about flight in general is because encouraging it
will eventually lead to fewer mistakes. If we assume our birds can and
will fly off, then we don't take them outdoors unsecured. We only learn
this by having flighted birds.
Pam