Michael asked:
"Mona, do you think Babylon is adequately trained for safe outdoor freeflight though? Do you think the fact that she was initially clipped, rather than a flighted baby raised for outdoor freeflight, would handicap her from being a good outdoor flier?"
Years ago, somebody (with outdoor flyers) told me that Babylon could free fly. I think she could free fly outside. She has been flying in buildings for most of her life and she has a tendency to take off, fly big laps and then find me and land on me. I remember once when I was flying her, I went to the lady's room. Babylon took off flying around and around and around the building for about five minutes and did not come down until I returned back into the auditorium. She saw me and flew right to me. That's her flying style. She tends to fly laps, if there are other birds she flies with them, and then she flies to me. She seldom flies any where else. Not every bird flies like that.
Here's a short video that was taken in 2004. Babylon is flying with macaws. It's degraded on Youtube but you can see how she typically flies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKMONnL5gk4Having said that, training is never an end but a process and I'm not particularly disciplined at home with my training. I think I would really need to step up my training if I wanted to free fly her outside.
Also, I have a real concern about something called "instinctual drift". Babylon is seven years old now and she spends a lot of time snuffling around looking for nesting areas. In the house, it is no big deal because I keep an eye on her and distract her if she's some place I do not want her to be.....outside, it would be a big deal. If she found an attractive nesting area and decided to play house it could be difficult to either find her or maybe even get her to come back.
I am sure she would not do it initially in an unfamiliar environment. She does not do this at the fly building. I have never seen her do this any where But at home, but it is something I would be worried about. It is something I worry about for all free flyers.
Thanks for asking.