My Bad!!! Bird Flies Away !

[Wolf]

Since Kookooloo has never shown any inclination to fly voluntarily only just gliding to the floor when Kiki decides to buzz her when she is on my shoulder, I had started taking Kookooloo outside for a few minutes an warm and calm days for some sunshine. Although she plucks, she is improving. I thought the sunshine would be good for her, so out we go without a cage or harness, my bad. Kookooloo, my naked CAG, takes wing and flies off. I am totally amazed at this because she has never tried to fly, and she flies very well. I live 15 miles from town in a totally wooded hollow, and lose sight of her as she disappears over the ridge. I climb to the top of the ridge and call and whistle for her to no avail. I return to the house and about 5 minutes later I hear her outside and rush out and start calling for her. She answers and I track her calls to a pine tree along the driveway near the house. I climb the tree and Kookooloo walks onto my shoulder. I am happy, my bird is home and safe. I climb down the tree and just as one foot touches the ground Kookooloo flies again, talk about a bummer!! Here we go again as I lose sight of her over another ridge. I keep whistling and calling for her and listening for her. Finally I think that I hear her, but it is not enough to get a bearing on her. Another couple of hours of whistling and calling and listening until finally I hear her across the road. I locate her up in another tree about 40 feet up from the ground. There is no way that I can climb this tree as the branches won't take my weight. I si and ponder this for a while and it is starting to get cooler and dusk is getting close. Finally I find a dead tree that has fallen and appears to be long enough to reach her. I get myself positioned with one foot against the base of a different tree next to the tree that my Grey is in. Raise my dead tree up and Kookooloo flies again.
This time I am in luck, the hill behind me is so steep that this flight is not much more than her level flight to the ground. I am winded from these exertions, but I climb up the nearly vertical hillside to rescue my bird. I get within arms reach and Kookooloo climbs onto my hand. I grab her as she makes a dash up my arm for my shoulder. I have her and cradle her to my chest, roll over and slide down to the bottom of the hill.
She is safe at home and sleeping comfortably in her cage as I write this, she is happy and none the worse for her little adventure. Guess who will not go outside again without a cage around her until she will wear her harness?
She did nothing wrong and wasn't trying to leave, in fact she circled back to the house twice, she just wanted to be a bird. But I won't make this mistake again, I knew there was a risk involved with what I was doing and I beat the odds twice in one afternoon, maybe three times. All is well and I won't be doing that again, it isn't worth it.

[KimberlyAnn]

I'm glad you got her back! And now look, you have a story to tell and had an adventure. Not bad for a Monday Wolf!

[Michael]

Thanks for sharing. Glad you got her back safely and relatively quickly. Make sure you let everyone know that any parrot can fly off outside and that harness/cage are the only reasonable ways!

[Wolf]

I tried to make sure that she knew where she lived on the occasions that I had taken her out, in hopes that if she knew this that she would find it easier to find her way home and it appears that this was a good thing to have done, but it should have been done with the aid of a cage or harness. Out here there is no one to call for assistance should you have a bird fly away. There ain't anyone around. You just have your hunting skills to rely upon or the bird knows how to find its way home. There are no other options where I live.
I do occasionally have visitors and I have noticed that they are normally not as careful about doors as I would like them to be. That has caused me to have to hunt down several other types of animals before. I am so glad that this turned out the way that it did. If Kookooloo had shown any indication that she could actually fly, this would never have happened as I would never have risked it. But I have learned that even if they never fly that you know of that doesn't mean that they can't/ won't.

[Pajarita]

Yep, never -and I do mean NEVER!- take an animal for granted. No matter how much the animal loves you, how well it's trained or even if the animal is now old and has never once in its life done whatever it is that you are 'sure' it will never do, there is always a risk. ALWAYS! Old dogs that never bit bite given certain conditions; old or handicapped cats that never left the house scamper away on occasion; and birds that never flew can take off in a split second. If there is one thing I've learned dealing with so many animals throughout my entire life is that the 'impossible' happens.

I am guilty of taking things for granted, too. I often have a small bird on my shoulder all day long (usually Zoey, the sennie), and, when the bell rings, I open the door with her on my shoulder but I have the enclosed porch between the house door and the street door and I always put my hand on her body so she can't really open her wings but still, it's something I shouldn't do...

Thank goodness you found her, Wolf. I can well imagine your desperation and anxiety while you were looking for her. I know I would have been freaking out big time! Put it down to a lesson well-learned.

[Wolf]

Like I said earlier, I knew there was a risk and I took the chance, big mistake. Years of hunting and lots of undeserved luck and it ended well, But I won't be tempting fate again, in this arena, anyways.

[cml]

I am very glad you got her back Wolf!

[Michael]

Wolf, can I ask you to change the title of the original post to something more relevant so that people have a better chance of seeing this and understanding what happened. It's great of you to come forth and admit to your mistakes so that others could learn and avoid making the same. Not enough people believe it can happen to them to take sufficient precautions.

Santina can't fly but I take her on a harness anyway. I don't want to find out otherwise. Particularly with a bird that can't fly skillfully and won't budge once planted somewhere out of reach!

[Harpmaker]

I am glad you got her back, and that you posted the story to remind us all not to take things for granted.

[Wolf]

Michael ;
I hope the new title is acceptable.
A bird flying away can and will happen to anyone who does not use the appropriate safeguards. It happened to you and to me and we knew the risk we were taking. Our birds flying away were not actually accidental ,but the result of our deliberate choices with us knowing beforehand that at some point that it could occur. Which was my point.
I realize that this should also serve to help other people more aware of the dangers of doing this, accidentally or deliberately. Most of the stories that I have read were the result of people not understanding what they were doing or the consequences involved. I wanted to present this story from the other end of the spectrum, that you and I knew exactly what we were doing and the risks involved. And I guess that I also wanted to say that it rips just as large of a hole in our hearts as it would have done if we had not known the dangers involved. I hope that I was successful in this.