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Dancing Senegal Parrot

Kili

Type: Senegal Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species: Senegalus
Subspecies: Mesotypus
Sex: Female
Weight: 120 grams
Height: 9 inches
Age: 15 years, 9 months
Caped Cape Parrot

Truman

Type: Cape Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species:Robustus
Subspecies: Fuscicollis
Sex: Male
Weight: 330 grams
Height: 13 inches
Age: 14 years
Blue and Gold Macaw

Rachel

Type: Blue & Gold Macaw
Genus: Ara
Species:ararauna
Sex: Female
Weight: 850 grams
Height: 26 inches
Age: 11 years, 9 months
Trick Training Guides
Taming & Training Guide
Flight Recall
Target
Wave
Fetch
Shake
Bat
Wings
Go through Tube
Turn Around
Flighted Fetch
Slide
Basketball
Play Dead
Piggy Bank
Nod
Bowling
Darts
Climb Rope
Ring Toss
Flip
Puzzle
Additional Top Articles
Stop Parrot Biting
Getting Your First Parrot
Treat Selection
Evolution of Flight
Clipping Wings
How to Put Parrot In Cage
Kili's Stroller Trick
Camping Parrots
Socialization
Truman's Tree
Parrot Wizard Seminar
Kili on David Letterman
Cape Parrot Review
Roudybush Pellets

List of Common Parrots:

Parakeets:
Budgerigar (Budgie)
Alexandrine Parakeet
African Ringneck
Indian Ringneck
Monk Parakeet (Quaker Parrot)

Parrotlets:
Mexican Parrotlet
Green Rumped Parrotlet
Blue Winged Parrotlet
Spectacled Parrotlet
Dusky Billed Parrotlet
Pacific Parrotlet
Yellow Faced Parrotlet

Lovebirds:
Peach Faced Lovebird
Masked Lovebird
Fischer's Lovebird
Lilian's (Nyasa) Lovebird
Black Cheeked Lovebird
Madagascar Lovebird
Abyssinian Lovebird
Red Faced Lovebird
Swindern's Lovebird

Lories and Lorikeets:
Rainbow Lorikeet

Conures:
Sun Conure
Jenday Conure
Cherry Headed Conure
Blue Crowned Conure
Mitred Conure
Patagonian Conure
Green Cheeked Conure
Nanday Conure

Caiques:
Black Headed Caique
White Bellied Caique

Poicephalus Parrots:
Senegal Parrot
Meyer's Parrot
Red Bellied Parrot
Brown Headed Parrot
Jardine's Parrot
Cape Parrot
Ruppell's Parrot

Eclectus:
Eclectus Parrot

African Greys:
Congo African Grey (CAG)
Timneh African Grey (TAG)

Amazons:
Blue Fronted Amazon
Yellow Naped Amazon
Yellow Headed Amazon
Orange Winged Amazon
Yellow Crowned Amazon

Cockatoos:
Cockatiel
Galah (Rose Breasted) Cockatoo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Umbrella Cockatoo
Moluccan Cockatoo
Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Goffin's Cockatoo

Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw

Glossary of Common Parrot Terms

The Joy of Owning Flighted Parrots

Comments (5)

By Michael Sazhin

Friday November 12th, 2010

When considering a parrot as a pet - or if you already own one - flight should be considered a feature and not a drawback. Certainly owning a flighted parrot takes much responsibility, but there really is no room for parrot ownership whether clipped or flighted without great extents of responsibility. Before you buy a clipped parrot or consider laying the scissors across your parrot's wings, I want you to consider how much fun you are missing out on.

Flight is an integral part of the parrot's "birdedness" but also one of the fun aspects of keeping them as a companion. I would like to share with you some of the cool flighted things my parrots do:

-Flight recall (flying to me when I call their name)
-Flying to perch to poop
-Self entertained when out
-Fly to me to get scratches
-Flighted parrot tricks
-Parrot darts
-Flying at the park
-Fly to me when time to be put away in cage
-Fly back to me like a boomerang

Last but not least, when a parrot gets too annoying being on me, I can chuck it toward its cage and it will fly back and hang out there for a while. While there are some new precautions we need to take when dealing with flighted parrots, there are also new perks involved. With a flighted parrot it becomes possible to spend a lazy evening without leaving the couch and have your parrot come to you and go at will. I can sit at my tv/computer (my TV is my computer... the computer has a 42" TV hooked up to it with wireless keyboard and mouse so I browse the net from my couch) and browse my parrot forum or watch a movie and call a parrot over to play with and then send it off to do its own thing when I'm done. The parrots can also notify they want my attention by flying over or more typically looking anxious to fly and letting me call them.

Come on, most other pets do not come with the incredible features that parrots include by default such as dazzling colors, vocalization capability, and flight. It is a major shame when owners cannot appreciate their birds for everything that they are capable of. Flight should not be considered a hindrance to your relationship but rather a bonus. I miss none of the benefits a clipped parrot owner may claim but also get to enjoy the flighted fun. My parrots are no less likely to step up, accept handling, and desire to be with me than if they were clipped. The secret to success is good taming techniques, patience, routine, and consistency and not clipping.

I can spend just as much time complaining about how much flighted parrots can be a pain in the butt, however, this article is meant to outline the positive aspects. Most of the undesirable ones really are just related to how parrots are rather than a fault of being flighted. So I made this video just to share some of the thrill of keeping parrots flighted in hopes of encouraging others to get to experience this for themselves. This is also meant to serve as a flight training progress update for Truman as I realized that I haven't shared his latest capabilities although they have greatly improved since last shown. Truman can recall to me anywhere and is very maneuverable. The following video shows how he recalls to me when completely out of sight around two corners. He follows the sound of my voice from his cage and finds me wherever I am. Kili can do this to some extent as well, but she is nowhere near as maneuverable as Truman. I also realized that I haven't really shared how I put my parrots away in their cages so I share that as well. Lately I've been able to recall them simultaneously when it is time to go back to cages and they both fly and land on each of my hands. Unfortunately in the video Truman hesitated a little. I just couldn't capture a shot where they fly at the same time, but when it happens it is truly beautiful. Flight is beautiful.





Part of: Indoor Freeflight, Flight Recall, Poicephalus, Cape Parrots, Senegal Parrots
Truman Cape Kili Senegal Parrot Flight Recall
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Comments

Post Your Response


zazanomore

Posted on November 13, 2010 02:47AM

I think there's something special when a bird decides to fly to you. With Einstein, I can open his cage, call him, and usually he'll fly right to me. Sometimes, when I have the budgies out, and they're exercising their wings, they'll land on me. That actually warms my heart a little, considering they aren't exactly tame. I love the sound of wings flapping. With the budgies, when they fly, their wings have this very quick sound, which kind of reminds me of a helicopter. Einstein sounds more powerful, and his wing strokes sound as if they come from a much larger bird. I guess after a lifetime of having birds fly away, it's nice to have them fly to me. :flapping:


born2fly

Posted on November 13, 2010 04:13AM

[quote="zazanomore":1e0qw4st]I love the sound of wings flapping.[/quote:1e0qw4st] I agree, I really like the sound Kili makes when flying just like my Buddy its very specific


skeetersunconure

Posted on November 13, 2010 12:58PM

thats really good! truman is doing so awsome!! how did you get them to stay on their perches until you called them? Because that is a problem im having with Skeeter he always wants to fly to me and he usually wont wait that long.


Michael

Posted on November 13, 2010 03:13PM

Kili stays cause she used to be clipped so that's a habit. She doesn't waste energy. Truman does jump the gun and come but I not only don't reward him but I don't even let him land on me. So slowly he's learning to wait for it. Doesn't always work but getting better. Also when I see he's about to go, I recall him so he'd get used to hearing his name being called when he's already coming. But I do not call him if he already took flight, just if he looks ready to go.

Keidiek

Posted on November 21, 2010 08:29PM

Wow, your birds are really well trained! Nana flies back to me on command, but only when she's in the same room. You should be careful about bottlecaps made of plastic, because it's possible for the microscopic polymers to be swallowed by the bird and this might cause long term illness.

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Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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