Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Flying into walls...

Discuss topics associated with teaching birds to fly. Training parrots recall flight, target flying, and other flying exercises.

Flying into walls...

Postby KimberlyAnn » Fri Feb 21, 2014 2:40 am

Emmi is learning to fly with her five new feathers. Flying into walls on her own, again. is.

It seems the more I teach her to fly on her training perches...the more she takes flight on her own when we are not training...kinda. I pretty much work on her flight off the perches to in every day situations. I know flying into walls sometimes, is normal. I do worry though! She has not hurt herself at all. She does not go too fast. She just misses her landing spot on the couch, runs into the wall and slides down. We have an 8 inch space behind the couch because of this now. Then she walks under the couch to us on her own looking like she will never ever ever fly again! Lol

Please tell me I should not worry! Tell me that this is normal. I need to hear it again.
My family: "Emmi" Green Cheek Conure (12/15/2012), One husband, two step kids, and one baby boy born in January 2015!
User avatar
KimberlyAnn
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 610
Location: Sacramento, California
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
Flight: Yes

Re: Flying into walls...

Postby marie83 » Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:27 pm

Yes it is normal and I promise she will improve. Harlie was very much the same to start with and there was nothing I could do to help (training wise) because she was too scared of me to start with. She would crash every single time she tried to fly but the crash lands got less and less and finally I'm not holding my breath every time she takes off in fear of her hurting or killing herself..... she can even turn quite tight circles now and can save herself should she misjudge a landing.

Keep trying with the training though, its obviously much better if we can prevent accidents by helping them learn control, try to encourage landing on larger areas like the seat of a sofa when not training from perch to perch/you to perch for the time being.

Don't be frightened of the risk of her becoming injured, it is definitely scary for us watching the crashes but I promise it is worth having a flighted bird for many many reasons
User avatar
marie83
Cockatoo
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 3565
Location: Midlands, UK
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow sided Green Cheek Conure
Pineapple Green Cheek Conure
Flight: Yes

Re: Flying into walls...

Postby Michael » Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:56 pm

Don't worry. This is normal. Challenge the training situations to be more complicated so the bird can learn to deal with that kinda stuff. Recall from one place and walk to another while the bird is in flight. Or recall with one hand and switch to the other. Or recall standing near a wall. Just keep coming up with different scenarios to help the bird practice flight safely. Let it figure the rest out on its own.
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Flying into walls...

Postby KimberlyAnn » Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:32 pm

Thank you! I will mix it up a bit. I'm moving the perches every time, one higher or lower, one angled and one not. We use the couch too and tables. I was thinking of putting things in the way for her to fly around them too.

I am getting a screen to put on the front door this weekend. The sliding back door is already a home made screened in porch I made with sun screen material so we don't get cooked by the sun in the living room. Plus I hate flying bugs. Lol She would have to chew for a bit to get out, but I don't let her spend any time out there because the neighbor below smokes and we can smell it sometimes. Everything else has been safe for some time now.
My family: "Emmi" Green Cheek Conure (12/15/2012), One husband, two step kids, and one baby boy born in January 2015!
User avatar
KimberlyAnn
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 610
Location: Sacramento, California
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
Flight: Yes

Re: Flying into walls...

Postby KimberlyAnn » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:13 pm

Ok, Emmi did something so cool...

I was picking up the house a bit ago and the sun was still up so Emmi was on a perch by the window. She kept saying "Come here now!" Because I guess she wanted me to bring her to her cage instead of climbing and walking there herself. I was busy. I kept saying..."just wait Emmi"

But no...she didn't want to wait or climb there herself. I had put her dinner in her cage and she wanted to eat. In passing, I saw her get really low on her perch. I knew she was going to try to fly that distance and so I waited. She took off and glided around her other perch, flapped her wings to go up and hovered to find a landing spot on her cage!

This showed me she's cognitively thinking about her flights and she's learning to move around objects. YAY! EMMI CAN FLY FOR REAL NOW! I get to change my flight option to YES officially because this is fully flighted enough for me! I've been waiting for this day! :)

Three more flight feathers are growing in too. That makes 8 total so far. Three on one wing and five on the other. Lol lopsided, but I have faith the others will be appearing soon. I found two more cut flights at the bottom of her cage today.
My family: "Emmi" Green Cheek Conure (12/15/2012), One husband, two step kids, and one baby boy born in January 2015!
User avatar
KimberlyAnn
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 610
Location: Sacramento, California
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
Flight: Yes

Re: Flying into walls...

Postby Harpmaker » Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:50 pm

When Corsair first learned to fly last fall she would "land" by hitting a wall and falling down. I mentioned it to the avian vet when Corsair was in for something else, and the vet suggested getting a flight cage to practice in until she got better at flying. I figured, based on her rate of improvement, that by the time I ordered one and set it up she wouldn't need it anymore. Turned out I was right. But if a bird is having longer term problems, it might be something to consider. At least it beats wing clipping!
User avatar
Harpmaker
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 637
Location: Southern California
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Meyer's Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Flying into walls...

Postby KimberlyAnn » Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:26 am

Emmi has a flight cage already. She's greatly improving daily so you are very right! My husband has been home since he had surgery last month (he's not healing well) so she's been out if her cage all day every day unless he needs a nap. He has been training her every day if his pain is not too much. She got scared tonight when I lightly bumped into the table she was standing on and she did a full circle, then hovered before landing. Parrot flight is amazing! :) (But of course, she was not happy with me for bumping the table. Lol oops. I didn't mean to!
My family: "Emmi" Green Cheek Conure (12/15/2012), One husband, two step kids, and one baby boy born in January 2015!
User avatar
KimberlyAnn
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 610
Location: Sacramento, California
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
Flight: Yes

Re: Flying into walls...

Postby Harpmaker » Thu Feb 27, 2014 3:47 pm

Sorry to hear that your husband is having a slow recovery, KimberlyAnn, but it's great that he and Emmi are helping each other (At least I hope she's helping him).

Once the birds figure out flying is FUN, they improve in a hurry! :hatched: :corella: :flapping:
User avatar
Harpmaker
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 637
Location: Southern California
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Meyer's Parrot
Flight: Yes


Return to Recall Flight & Flighted Tricks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store