Fright of my life!!!

[Tandi]

Late on Friday evening Jodi flew away, clipped wing and all! I was still at work and wasn't told about it until I returned home as I was in a complete state about it and couldn't stop crying! My fiance and my Mom had searched for her for about 2 hours, found her in a tree but when my fiance got near she flew to another tree and flew away again when my fiance got near again! When I got home I went out searching for her, calling her name hoping she would respond to me, but it was already late and dark! She spent the night out and I never slept a winl! I went out at first light the next morning hoping that she would be hungry enough to come to me...we had left her cage out for her and her basket which she loves! After hours of searching and no response from her I was really beginning to believe she was gone! I went inside, had a shower and attempted to pull myself together and then went out to resume my search...and she answered me! I was so happy and so relieved! It took us the better part of 30 minutes to coax her out the tree, but she is home safe and sound! She was starving hungry and ate well when she got into the house, and she was absolutely exhausted and slept for most of the remainder of the day! I have checked her and she seems alright, nothing is broken or anything like that! I'm a little concerned she may get a cold or something from being out the whole night! She had a good sleep last night and she ate a lot of her porridge this morning and she seems far more herslef now!

I am so relieved to have her home as I was devastated when I thought that I had lost her for good! I will be taking her to the vet tomorrow, just to have her checked out and to have her wing reclipped!

[zazanomore]

I'm so glad she's okay! But I've got to wonder how she ended up outside in the first place.

Clipped birds can still fly away. With the right winds, a clipped bird can gain flight. So I don't think re-clipping the wings will do too much to prevent this from happening again. I think you should try to add more precautions to ensure your bird never leaves the house without a proper flight suit on.

[captwest]

Congrats, I've simular exprences and know how traumatic it can be for all involved, i'll not comment on the clipped vs flighted thing, put don't go overboard, i'm glad to hear everyone is fine,Jodi did not have a comfortable night either but don't think that she has "learned her lesson" either, be careful it can happen again. Just because she may seem clingy dosn't mean she realizes how big and harsh the real world can be.

[TheNzJessie]

do you know how she got outside in the first place? thats would be where to start for her not flying away rather than clipping her to stop her form flying away

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Please, if you are clipping, have both wings clipped, and not so severely she can't land gracefully inside. Even a severely clipped bird can wind up flying away in high wind conditions-- and will have less ability to fly back to you. I am NOT arguing against clipping, IMO it is safer in many circumstances, but not SAFE, so it is risky to take even a clipped bird outside without a harness. Plus it is easy to have some flights grow in and not notice and find you have a more flighted bird than you thought. Clipping LIMITS flight, it does not ELIMINATE flight.

Clipping only one wing used to be a common practice, but it makes it harder for the bird to control whatever degree of flight it has.

[Michael]

I am so relieved to have her home as I was devastated when I thought that I had lost her for good! I will be taking her to the vet tomorrow, just to have her checked out and to have her wing reclipped!

I'm thrilled all ended well. However, "reclipping" the parrot is not the solution to the problem. It is not the bird's fault it got out. The bird was probably terrified the entire time and hardly thrilled to have such freedom. Only adequate bird proof precautions and proper training can help in such situations.

I can see how it may be tempting to think that clipping is good. If a clipped parrot gets out once in a while, then flighted parrots must get out all the time, and thank goodness it was clipped. But no, I don't think this is the case. Whether clipped or flighted, similar precautions must be taken. Owners of flighted parrots don't take these precautions lightly because they know their parrots can fly out. Clipped owners end up making mistakes because they do not think of the flight possibilities of their parrots. Keeping parrots flighted not only teaches owners how to adapt to owning birds, but it also teaches the birds important maneuvering skills that may help them come back or recall back to the owner.