Written by Pam Clark, all rights reserved.
Dawn wrote:
>>> Wonderful information..... and you touched on something I have
been thinking about.... Our resident CAG is 18 months old and thus far has
no interest in flight. I am trying to teach him to use his wings more
(holding him high at arms length, then sweeping him in exclaiming "kiss the
birdie!") Thus far he is content with playing, talking and making
"falling slides" into things if he gets startled off his gym. I
am hoping because he is still so young that I might be able to teach him what
his wings are for.......
Dawn...welcome to the list. I once kept all my parrots clipped, having
been taught that this is the responsible thing to do. Thanks to Chris Biro
and those who donate what they have learned so generously to this list, I began
to explore the issues around keeping flighted parrots a few years ago and change
came gradually for me. A large part of my motivation for exploring this
was my own inner sense of unease as I began to wonder how a bird could achieve
his maximum life span in good health without aerobic exercise. If every
physiological feature of the avian anatomy evolved to allow flight, it seemed to
me that suddenly depriving birds of this type of exercise was likely to have an
adverse, and perhaps devastating, impact on both physical and psychological
health.
I went through different stages in my expanding ideas about companion parrots
and flight. I first decided that some species were "easier" to
keep flighted than others, say...for instance...mature Amazons. I included Greys
in my arbitrary category of those who really "needed" flight, because
I had seen, through fledging the small number of Greys I raise each year, the
tremendous change in their personalities and levels of both coordination and
confidence as they gained flight skills. Then, I decided that perhaps I
should allow my New World parrots and cockatoos flight for a period each year
after they molted, in order to keep them in better physical health. Now, all of
my 17 companion parrots are fully flighted, year round. This last winter I
built an aviary that measures 12. ft by 24 ft. so that they all had greater
opportunities for flight. Another advance in my own learning came in the last
several months, when I entered into discussion with a couple of other list
members, whose questioned my previous assumption that it is necessary to clip
fledged babies prior to sending them home in order to foster the development of
a bond with the new owner. I decided I wanted to explore this and, once
again, a life-altering change has taken place in my thinking. This is the
first clutch of babies that I will be sending home fully flighted, and I no
longer intend to clip babies at all.. I have seen first hand the continued
personality and flight skill development that has occurred past the time when I
would usually have clipped them. And, the experience has forced me to
become a better trainer and breeder. If you don't stop birds from flying
away from you in order to guarantee an ability to handle them, you must learn
other and better techniques for living with them. Having done so, I am not in a
position to teach those who take home flighted babies.
For instance, I too have been experiencing the very "hands on" and
enthusiastic participation in everything I do of the three baby Greys I
currently have. I can have a sense of humor about it because it always
reminds me of the so oft repeated definition of Greys as "nervous and
clumsy." This statement is laughable once you've lived with flighted
baby Greys. They are into everything. It is far worse than having
three two-year-olds share your space, because these are flighted two-year-olds
who delight in grabbing one of your spice jars and flying off with it while
you're cooking. Dealing with them has necessitated that I learn different
techniques for teaching them to avoid behavior I don't find desirable and
encouraging behavior that I do. For example, the male (Zorba) especially
wants to be a part of my kitchen activities. This is not convenient, and
it would have been easy for me to just lock him up, but I'm trying to learn
better training techniques, so I decided that while being in the middle of what
I was chopping was not desirable, sitting on a table top perch on the counter
was. I had seen that occasionally he would land on this perch to see what
I was doing. So, I got some food treats at hand and the next time he
landed on that perch, he got a huge verbal reward as well as a treat. I
have continued this and he now is quite happy to land on this perch and stay
there. Young parrots have a need to be successful and to learn. It
is to our benefit that they understand our communication so well and that we can
so easily "tell" them through positive reinforcement about the
behaviors we want them to display. Zorba now shows no interest in being in
the middle of my chopping board. He got no reward for that behavior (no
punishment either), but got a huge reward for the other - perching on the table
top stand. The biggest challenge for me was in changing my way of thinking
about how to get the behaviors I wanted. I'm giving this example because
a
need for information about training principles and positive reinforcement will
follow closely on the heels of getting your little CAG flighted, out of
necessity, if you don't already have this. Otherwise, your flighted parrot
will wind up spending more time in his cage than if he weren't flighted.
I think it is of note that for anyone who has begun to explore the world of
flighted companion parrots, there usually is no "going back."
There occurs instead a progression of both learning and enthusiasm. I know
of no one who has decided to allow flight in the home who would now clip their
birds, unless for an unusual reason such as a need to travel for the summer in a
motor home. I know of no one who has successfully gotten a parrot flighted
outdoors who would turn back from that activity. Even after a loss has occurred.
It sounds as if your CAG was not allowed to fledge when young, and there is no
doubt that this does impact them developmentally. I have more experience
with Greys than any other species regarding issues pertaining to flight. I
have here in residence both Greys I have reared and kept, two of which are
flighted outdoors as I said previously, and Greys I have taken in as older
birds. Nigel is a male I believe to be older than 20 from his appearance.
He also talks a lot about "Myrtle, Albert, and George" which provides
a clue to his history and the age group he might have lived with. Nigel
also demonstrates the posture typical of muscular degeneration that occurs after
many years without flight for exercise. Nigel was found by the side of the road,
but not because his owners had kept him flighted, quite obviously. He
hasn't a clue how to fly, nor the strength to do so. Even after months of
encouragement and (involuntary) flapping exercise, flying is a
"non-compute" for him. He flies only when startled, and then
waits expectantly for some one to come rescue him from the floor. Perhaps this
will change, but my experience has been that the longer a Red-tailed Grey lives
without flying, the more difficult it is for him to learn this skill and the
ability to act volitionally that must accompany it.
Sammy was another rescued Grey, and it has been easier to trace his history and
pinpoint his age. I believe him to be about 8 or 9 years old. He has learned to
fly well, but still does not appear to have developed the ability to act with
volition, i.e. decide he wants to go somewhere and fly there. He is a fairly
anxious Grey, so easily startles. This means that he flies fairly
frequently, but it is always in "reaction" to something - not because
he wants to go somewhere.
Catherine Sophia is 15 years old and a feather picker, given to me by a client
who could no longer care for her. She can fly, but again does so only in
reaction to an outside stimulus.
Puffin is another feather picker, who is only about three years old. After
coming here a little over a year ago, he has learned to fly and does so out of
volition, rather than always as a reaction. His flight is awkward and he lands
with quite a thud, but obviously is tremendously pleased with his new ability.
Many times a day, he lands "ker-thunk" on my shoulder, digging in his
nails, and deposits an audible kiss on my ear.
Conversely, the greys I have raised and fledged when young, even though they
were clipped briefly during their first year, fly frequently and well and enjoy
doing so.
This ability to act with volition is an issue that can not be discussed enough,
in any conversation about Greys and flight. I have many other species that
are now flighted and the lack of early fledging has not had as deleterious
impact on any of them as it seems to have on Greys. Cockatoos have such a large
wing surface area in proportion to their bodies, and such "flighty"
personalities, that they seem to have an easier time learning to fly later in
life. The same is true to a certain extent with my Amazons, macaws and
Pionus. They probably do not fly as often as they would if they had been
fledged as babies, but they fly quite readily and with volition. It is only the
CAGs who seem to develop a permanent "personality impairment" as a
result of early and continued clipping. Please note, however, that I am
speaking pretty generally here and that there are many species with which I have
no direct experience.
I would guess from the experiences I've had with both my own birds and those of
clients who wanted to "re-fledge" their parrots, that your baby Grey
at 18 months should be a good candidate for the learning of both flight skills
and the ability to fly with volition.
Are his flight feathers fully grown out? Many birds do not have much
interest in "flapping" exercises until they do have a full set of
flight feathers. I think that air moving against a full set of flight
feathers when a bird flaps must feel quite different than it does moving against
clipped wings. If he has yet to grow out some of his flights, you may find
an increasing interest in flapping as he does so.
It sounds from your description of your activities that he is being given a
"vertical" flapping experience, rather than a horizontal one.
The former can be helpful in gaining some increased muscle strength, but it can
also be a little scary for a young bird. If it isn't for your CAG, then it
will be a valuable exercise to keep doing in order to provide some exercise
until he chooses to fly on his own. There are also some others, one in
particular that I often use to encourage a sedentary parrot to flap. I
take a thick rope that has a good diameter for perching and hold this tautly
between my two extended hands. At this point, my hands are only about 18
inches apart on the rope and I encourage the bird to step onto the taut rope.
At first, I just have them step up and then back down again, to lots of praise.
Once they are comfortable with that, I hold the rope with my hands further
apart, and ask them to become used to stepping up onto the rope that way.
Once they are eager to do this, I then start to lower one end of the rope toward
the ground while I hold the other end up above shoulder level. If the
parrot looks afraid, I do this a few times before I let go of the lower end of
the rope with that hand. The goal is to hold the rope with one hand so
that it is perpendicular to the floor with the parrot on it. You can then
begin to swing it gently back and forth. Every parrot I've ever done this
with has begun immediately to flap. There are some advantages to this
exercise, namely that the arc which fosters flapping is greater and it's easier
on the human:)
For actually encouraging him to fly, however, I'd encourage you to also give him
a horizontal flapping experience. At the recent PBIC convention, there
were a couple of handling workshops that were great. Shari Beaudoin of
Parrot Island in Minnesota demonstrated a technique she uses for encouraging
sedentary parrots to flap. She held the parrot's chest in her two cupped
hands (making sure not to apply pressure to the abdominal cavity in which most
of the air sacs are located) with the parrot facing away from her. She
then ran to the other end of the room, just quickly enough to get the bird to
flap as she moved. She demonstrated this with different species - all the way
from a Hyacinth on down to a caique, who was quite unused to such activity.
This is just one idea and, of course, would have to be developed gradually with
sensitivity to the parrot's comfort level. I'm sure that not all parrots
will immediately feel happy about being held this way. However, I could see the
benefit in her technique because the birds seemed more inclined to flap and it
afforded a longer period of flapping.
I'd also suggest that you start to work now on developing a recall with him,
even if he is not yet fully flighted. It would be helpful to learn the
basics of clicker training, for both teaching the recall and being able to
encourage flapping exercises. Once you have taught him a couple of tricks
with a clicker, you can then use it to reinforce any behavior that is desirable.
Every young parrot flaps sometimes on his own, and you will be in a position
with a clicker at hand to reinforce him for flapping in the instant when he does
so.
I'm sure that he can learn to fly well, even if a little later than usual. If
he's not showing an interest in doing so, perhaps it's because he still lacks a
few flight feathers. If he is fully flighted, the handling exercise I
described above might be of some encouragement. I'm so glad to hear that
you're thinking of giving him this experience at this age. You're in the
right place.
Pamela Clark