He's officially airborne

[Chris&Akilah]

Akila has had two full, shiny flight feathers for a few weeks now, and his flying skills have been improving everyday. Now my problem is, how the heck do you keep a flighted parrot off you? I at least want him to "ask" before flying to me and landing on my shoulder/head. The worst is when I'm bending over and he lands on my back. When I don't want him on me I say "Not right now, go back to your perch", and gently toss him towards it while he is perched on my finger then praise when he lands there. Sometimes he doesn't let go though, and just falls forward. Or will turn right around and come back instead. He is like a boomerang. But one that is starting to get a bit nippy when I won't let him stay on me, or will just refuse to let go of my shirt or finger. I guess this is maturity starting to asert itself! Another problem is he often poops on my shoulder as soon as he lands. He will poop on command if I ask him, or at least try, but if I don't know he is coming I cant ask.

I posted this in the wrong forum, sorry . Meant to go in 'general parrot care'

[Michael]

Many of us have this same problem but don't worry, it's way better than a parrot that never wants to be on you. You just have to learn to manage this. Kili is pretty clingy like this so what I do is shake her off when she flies to my shoulder herself. But instead I try to recall her to my hand and put her on my shoulder myself when I know that's what she wants. So she learned to be a little more patient and she often says hello when she wants that kinda attention. So if she says hello, I give her the chance to recall and go on my shoulder. That's her way of asking for me to call her to be on my shoulder. Works pretty well.

[MandyG]

Like Michael said, being one step ahead of them really works. Call them to you when you know they're going to want to fly to you and let them get lots of attention then put them back on their perch with some favorite toys (play with the toys and be really excited to make them really interested) or have some foraging toys with some favorite treats.

Also, when my Amazon flies to me uninvited I tell him 'No, back to your perch' and gently toss him back. You have to be very consistent. Every time you reward them even for a few seconds when they fly uninvited will set you back.

The above steps work for my Amazon. I can't keep my Conure off of me no matter how much I try though...

[Chris&Akilah]

Things are going pretty well. I've been trying to be more consistent about not rewarding him for uninvited landings. Sometimes it's hard, like when he lands so lightly I barely notice, and nuzzles my face. Sending him back to his perch, then calling him back again, has become a game...the exercise in itself is helping, as instead of being fidgety, after a few good recalls across the room he is tired and content to sit and preen or look out the window for awhile.

[Ticoisagoodbird]

That is a really good story. I have never had flighted pet birds, only because I have a family that fries things in oil without thinking where a bird might be, etc. A good friend has a Redtail Hawk that does recall, and just this year we had a hawk family breeding on the property instead of owls. Flighted parrot + thoughtless family + hawk looking for food = bad ending. Long story short, I didn't allow flight because of what I think might happen.

But I will say: Congrats! They are meant for flight!

[liz]

Things are going pretty well. I've been trying to be more consistent about not rewarding him for uninvited landings. Sometimes it's hard, like when he lands so lightly I barely notice, and nuzzles my face. Sending him back to his perch, then calling him back again, has become a game...the exercise in itself is helping, as instead of being fidgety, after a few good recalls across the room he is tired and content to sit and preen or look out the window for awhile.

LOL Just like my Mom always told me growing up..."I'm the Mom, your the kid". That is basically what you did and it worked.

[Chris&Akilah]

Ok here's a new problem; trying to land on the dog . The dog is a big staffy mix who is getting up in years and just sleeps when inside. Akila has suddenly flown at him a couple times now while he was just lying there, and scared the crap out of the poor dog, who just runs away. Which I assume is what makes it fun for Akila. Even though he's gentle and has zero interest in Akila, my dog is big and can be clumsy, so its obviously very dangerous for Akila to think this is a fun game! I don't want to shut my dog out for this reason, I have limited time each day to spend with my pets, as we all do. Scared of pencils but not predatory mammals . Crazy bird.

[felix11]

Hahahaha, oh no! That does sound problematic. Similarly, my bird has a bad habit of running over to the side of the couch and trying to bite my very gentle, aging border collie - not the best idea. The dog could startle one day and accidently nip. The dog nipped me for the first time last week, when I woke her up accidently by stepping on her foot - first time she has lost control of her actions! She apologized profusely, of course, but I am more cautious with my bird around her now.
I cant think how on earth one could keep the bird off the dog, but make sure the dog understands how very precious your bird is, and how important it is that she is protected, no matter how annoying.

[Chris&Akilah]

Well, I've come up with a ridiculous temporary solution. I have a long rubber snake that Akila is terrified of. Funny how instincts work, but I guess in the wild canines would pose little threat to a flock of Senegals, unlike a snake. Anyway, so far so good. The dog doesn't care, I can drape the snake over him and he'll just keep snoring away, but Akila won't go near it . Now he just stares with one beady eye...I think he's already suspicious of this ploy...