naomi wrote:i think clipping parrot's wing is more like a personal choice.
I hear this line all the time and cannot stand it. The parrot has no say at all. It's not a choice the parrot is involved in. If it were a choice, the parrot wouldn't have to be clipped and would choose not to fly. The fact that people find it necessary to clip them proves that they would rather choose to fly.
Graybeard wrote:Jailing a bird in a human house is only a difference in degree to jailing it a cage. Unless it has total free flight, to come and go to its house for meals, meetups and safe sleep, its life is that of a prisoner.
How you jail your bird is less important than why you have it at all. How big does a bird's jail have to be, in proportion to its size, to make indoor flight worthwhile?
No. When you look at the size of the bird's cage relative to body size, it is about proportionate as our "room" is to us. The time spent in the cage is comparable to us spending time in our room. Time spent out of the cage is more free. Kind of like for us going out. Although they cannot fly for miles in a straight line, they can achieve that by going back and forth. Last night Kili flew over a mile in 50 back and forth 60ft flight recalls.
Neither at home nor in the wild do they spend all day flying. In the wild they may make a mile long commute (or whatever the length is depending on species) to their favorite foraging tree and spend the rest of the day eating/foraging/playing there. If food is more sparse they'll move around for food but if they can get it in one place they will remain there. Thus if the cage provides ample space, climbing, foraging, and play opportunities, it is not terribly confining. It is to an extent but when combined with daily opportunities to fly, quite healthy and safe.
This is absolutely no excuse to clip them and limit them flight the other time. Just because I sit in the office working most of the day does not mean I don't like to go for a walk in the evening and move about. Likewise, just because the parrots don't need flight all the time doesn't mean you have any valid justification in taking it away from them entirely.
This is my position on clipping: http://TrainedParrot.com/Clipping