Hi Everyone.
About five years ago, I was convinced that I was being a good birdie momma by keeping my white-eared conure's wings clipped. Then one winter, they grew out, I just let it happened, and was surprised to find that his entire personality changed. At that point, I decided that flight must be necessary psychologically for a parrot. Charlie has been flighted ever since. As we don't own any dangerous pets and he's not a chewer, he pretty much has run of the house. For the most part, he prefers to cuddle on us or sits on the TV looking at everything.
My green cheeked conure, on the other hand, refuses to fly. When he does, he flies toward the ground. I know he can fly up and for distance, because every now and then he has when scared. Recently, he has even flown onto me several times when I wasn't paying enough attention. I gave him a lot of attention for that, but he hasn't repeated the experience in two weeks. He absolutely refuses to fly for treats in a clicker-training situation. Absolutely REFUSES.
What can I do? He's a more anxious parrot and I really think flying consistently would enrich his life.