Let my grey look out the window?

[macbrush]

In the last couple of days, Spencer spent half of his free time looking out the window, he's dancing, whistling, clicking, barking and occasionally talking at that tree outside. I reckon he's grew quite obsessed with the view outside.

Should I close the curtain? Or limit the the period that he could look outside? I worry that he's got hooked to the idea of going "outside the house", he would fly away the first chance he's got.

[GlassOnion]

Do you not take your grey outside in a harness or a carrier?

Birds need their sunlight for vitamin A in order to properly absorb calcium. Greys especially need their calcium.

You should really take him outside in either a carrier or a harness, but never just clipped. Even clipped birds can flutter far away with some spook and some wind, so never risk that. If you go on http://www.parrotalert.org, there are tons of lost birds that got lost even though they were clipped, because their owners had a false sense of security.

There's no reason not to let him enjoy the outdoors, can you imagine never going outside in your life? Keeping him confined indoors forever is something that I would never consider.

He's not going to fall in love with the wilderness and run away, but enjoy what is offered. Everyone I know takes their birds outside for sunlight. But again, no bird should be outside unless in a carrier or a harness.

[macbrush]

Well.. I only have had Spencer for about 3 weeks, I am still working on touching him without getting bite at all and still some way from stepping up. The thing is that we live in Hong Kong, most of us can't just let our bird free flight at our house due to very limited space at our homes, getting our bird outside is a lot of work and practice as well, since there is no quiet and nice forest walks or parks nearby, there is no neighbourhood type environment just multi-story buildings everywhere, and we have about 300 cats lurking about nearby because there are people feeding them. If a bird get lost in this environment, it is safe to say it is gone forever, probably dead. Imagine live in a small apartment in China Town, except that streets are packed with people 16 hours a day.

I do plan to take Spencer out in future, but it would take some time to work up the trust between us first, then step by step letting him to adapt to how it is really like outside, I don't want to completely freak him out and i want him to be well trained and bond to me before working on taking him out.

I don't want you guys think I am being cruel or something to Spencer. I just need to play it really safe due to our living environment.

In the mean time, i do supplement very little Vitamin D3 once a week just in case, but Spencer is on a commercial pellets diet anyway so vitamin D3 (hence calcium utilization) shouldn't be a problem. I supplement because now I train him twice a day, and that involve a lot of sunflower seeds which make up probably 1/4 to 1/2 of what he eat a day. Spencer do see natural full spectrum sunlight (without window open) awhile a day, I would probably take him to our roof do some sunbathing when the weather is warmer, but in the mean time, guess that would have to do.

[GlassOnion]

Good luck with Spencer! Your circumstances are not the best, but you can go maybe just outside of your building?

Dont forget lots of veggies/grains/nuts in his diet!

[liz]

I never take my birds outside. There was a couple times that Rambo was pushed out the door when company was leaving and he was in the door way. He just kept running circles waiting for a chance to get back in.

I don't think they associate what they see through the window as being outside. I think they see it like a TV. I would not close the curtains. Just like watching YouTube, it is enrichment.