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Corsair flew into her cage walls

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Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby Harpmaker » Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:52 am

y heMy Meyer's parrot, Corsair panic-flew into the walls of her cage last Thursday (Thanksgiving) at about 5 am. She managed to lose all the primary flight feathers on her right wing, at least one from the left, and several secondaries and tail feathers.( I found a bunch on the floor of the cage, and a few fell out during the rest of the day.)

1) Does anyone have an idea why she would do that? She's never done anything like that before. The room she sleeps in was warmer than usual, and she calmed down immediately when moved to a cooler room. Personal air conditioning? Or is there any health problem that would cause her to do that? Something I can change to stop a repeat?

2) I haven't tried to to clip the left wing to even it out yet, because I figured she was stressed enough for the time being (and also I HATE the idea.) She has been fluttering to the ground while trying to fly followed by shivering when rescued from the floor. But this morning she got some ground effect enabling her to cross the room quickly, and this afternoon she managed a short, almost horizontal flight to "help" me eat a sandwich (Evidently a strong motivation.) She has gone back to climbing up and down with confidence. Is there still a reason to clip the left wing feathers since she seems to be adjusting already?
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby liz » Tue Nov 29, 2016 6:26 am

It would make her more balanced. Other than that I see no reason for clipping. I would though.

I hate that she did that. It could only be that she was afraid of something.

Myrtle tried flying in the dark and slammed into a wall that she knew was there but did not see. She hit hard and I had to carry her back to her cage top.
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby Pajarita » Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:25 am

She lost all her remiges on her right wing completely or were they just broken? Because, if she lost them all, it would be better to clip her left wing so as to make her more evenly balanced but if she still has part of the feathers there and she can still fly, I would leave her be.

As to what happened to her... Is it possible that a mouse or something like that could have gotten either into her cage or was climbing on it?
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby Harpmaker » Tue Nov 29, 2016 6:22 pm

A human member of our household admitted that he threw away some disposable cups in the room she sleeps in the night before because the dried soda attracted fruit flies, so maybe they were active in the warm dark room and bothered her? There was nothing in the cage when we moved her. And of course the cups were disposed of outside.

Pajarita wrote:She lost all her remiges on her right wing completely or were they just broken? Because, if she lost them all, it would be better to clip her left wing so as to make her more evenly balanced but if she still has part of the feathers there and she can still fly, I would leave her be.


The feathers fell out rather than breaking, but only the longest ones that cross over the primaries of the other wing when the wings are folded. The shorter, secondaries are nearly intact. She has adapted enough for short descending "falling with style". She can't actually fly but she burns a lot of energy, and gets where she wants to go faster than walking. I'll leave her be unless something else happens, because if I cut them I can't undo it.

Corsair has been playing with our 61 pound puppy by flying up to him and flapping her wings in his face and flying away. Maybe by the time the feathers grow back she will have forgotten the game. (Not likely, but I can hope. His response is to stand on hind legs and bump her with his nose as she flies past, so he knows it's a game, but neither one knows how fragile birds are, so I stop it when I can.)
A
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby seagoatdeb » Tue Nov 29, 2016 7:10 pm

Pois can have frights. I could be a one time thing to something you did not even see. If the parrot is compensating for the lost wing feathers I woudl not clip to be even unless you see that they are unbalanced in the flying and prone to accidents.
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby Pajarita » Wed Nov 30, 2016 11:26 am

Hmmm, fruit flies don't fly at night but, even if they did, they wouldn't have caused such a fright. Are you sure there wasn't a mouse in there? Because sugary residue would attract mice...

None of my birds have night frights -not even the cockatiels had them and everybody says they are very prone to them. The only time it happened, it was because there was a lamp across the street and its light shone on the tiels cage at night but once I put a black out curtain on that window (I slept in there one night to see what was going on), they never did again.
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby liz » Wed Nov 30, 2016 7:03 pm

You have had Corsair for a long time. The fact that she loves to fly and does it very well is how you named her. I thought it was a great name.

Field mice are trying to move into homes for the winter. My son has had a few move in but her has two little wiener dogs and one is a killer so the mice don't get to live there.

With multiple birds one stretching in the dark can set them all off. They cannot see in the dark so walls that they know are there completely slip their minds. Myrtle smacked into a wall in my bedroom while trying to night fly.

There could have been a noise outside that scared her. They have excellent hearing.

Whatever it was lets all hope it does not happen again.
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby seagoatdeb » Wed Nov 30, 2016 8:53 pm

Gaugan had a hard time with earthquakes when we lived on the West Coast and she would panic and you would have to scramble in the shaking to get her out of the cage before she hurt herself. It is really good for her to be in Kelowna.
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby Harpmaker » Thu Dec 01, 2016 1:39 am

Thanks to all for the help.

We ARE in an earthquake zone, and while I didn't feel anything that night, I don't notice smaller earthquakes than Richter 3.5

We have had a problem with rats in the garage, but not in the house. And none were around when the closest person went to see what her problem was. Our old mouser is 13 and epileptic, so he may have decided to retire. His understudy refuses to touch the ground where the puppy can reach, and the puppy tries to make friends. So I would put that as unlikely, but possible.

It's never really dark within about 50 miles of L.A., so if light is a problem that could have spooked her. It never did before, and hasn't since, but it's possible.

Or it could be something else.

Corsair is acting a bit like she did when she first moved in. Her wings had been clipped before we got her, and she kept trying to fly until she gained altitude. She also climbed more for obvious reasons. I just have to watch more carefully since she lands on the floor more, and with cats and dog, our floor has never been bird safe.
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Re: Corsair flew into her cage walls

Postby Pajarita » Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:55 am

I don't know how much light you get in her room but try sleeping in there one night and see. I leave the blinds up in all the windows but I partially cover the cages that are next to windows that look onto the street where there are lamps so as to block the light.
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