I'm an idiot and took Merlin outside,

He was being good as gold and so I decided, as he was so bonded to me, that we'll see how he does without the harness.

Oh dear. He was good as gold for about an hour, then he got brave and flew away. Up up up into the trees. I didn't even know he had the ability to fly that far! This was around 4pm. A dog walker came over and stood with me for an hour chattering away to Merlin, calling him down, he was so lovely. We exchanged numbers so I could update him about when we get him down etc. He offered me his jumper because it was getting cold and we didn't know how long I'd be left out there for!

Goodness I can't believe I was so stupid, he's not even clipped or anything so he's got the best flight he can get.

We tried getting in touch with the rspca, they refused to help until he'd been there 24hr+, fire brigade refused to help unless they got rspca go ahead. (Even though when we last visited them they said we could call them out anytime for things like this because that's what they do!)

We got a guy who was practicing rugby in the area to help us with his huuuuge ladders, but every time he moved the ladders, Merlin spooked and flew to another tree.

So after ringing lots of people who have cherry pickers and tree surgeons, we eventually got put in contact with a very very nice man who happened to be on 24hr call out (it was gone 6pm) and he eventually found us. Only problem is that the gates to the park paths were locked and we couldn't get him over. We tried climbing the ladders up the tree to get to him, no joy. We tried throwing things to startle him to get him to fly, to get him down but no look. (My other half even got his shoe stuck, whoops!)

We rang the council to see if we could get the grounds unlocked properly, after many many phonecalls around we basically got told 'no'. We considered breaking the gate and leaving a note 'sorry!' but we decided we'd give it a little longer trying to get him down.

We EVENTUALLY (10pm?) got him to fly to another tree which was on the good side of the gate and managed to get Andrew and the nice man up the cherry picker and get Merlin into his cage, he was good and just stepped up for Andrew.

He'd fallen asleep in the tree before last for a few hours, and it had gotten dark and was getting chilly, so obviously we were all worried. We had kids offering to attempt to climb the tree to get him down, a few people also hung around supporting us, helping us throw things, just generally hoping for Merlin to get to safety.

Anyway, long story short. I'm an idiot for even considering doing what I did (please no 'I told you sos'!) and that will never ever ever ever happen again. I'm so grateful to all the people out there tonight who helped in one way or another, especially John the cherry picker man! Who only charged us a pleasant £70 (we gave him £80 for being so fantastic!).

I'm officially crashed out. Merlin is asleep on his twirly perch thing outside his cage, he's done a lot more exercise than we thought capable of him today. I cried when Andrew got him into the cage, I was so scared I wasn't going to get my baby back, my poor baby who had tried flying down at times but just couldn't make the descent to us.


Home sweet home, with lots of yummy food.

Sorry for being such a stupid Parront&I swear I'll never do it again!

All's well that ends well, right?

Oh, Mayden, I'm just glad you got him back. Wow, what stress! Yeah, I'm sorry to say, but no matter how well bonded it is to you, it can fly away:54: It's even happened to people who have had their birds for decades and never ever thought that it would happen. Just be grateful he's back and safe and I'm glad so many people tried to help. It's good to know there are still people like that out there.

Try to get a good night's sleep!

roxynoodle said:

Oh, Mayden, I'm just glad you got him back. Wow, what stress! Yeah, I'm sorry to say, but no matter how well bonded it is to you, it can fly away:54: It's even happened to people who have had their birds for decades and never ever thought that it would happen. Just be grateful he's back and safe and I'm glad so many people tried to help. It's good to know there are still people like that out there.

Try to get a good night's sleep!

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Just so greatful to have him home, Andrew put him in his cage now so he's settling now. So happy, so so happy.

I probably would need sedatives myself right now, lol!

Yeah, you just don't know with birds. They get excited and don't think about what might happen of course like we do. Then they get frightened by what happened and don't know what to do but sit there. They are like little kids chasing a ball into the road without looking for traffic.

I'm exhausted now, so I'm gonna go and crash out. So happy he's home I wish I could just squeeze the life out of him in cuddles but my baby needs his rest now!

You're right tho Roxy, I was worried he was going to fly into the denser trees, or spook and fly towards the roads and get in more trouble.

Anyway, home and safe!
Goodnight all xx

Well I'm glad you got him back. I almost lost my Bella when she escaped my outdoor avairy, but her boyfriend was still inside so she just sat on top of it and I got her to step up on my shoulder and took her inside.

I wish you a good night's rest and hope come morning all the stress has melted away, and doesn't make your illness worse. And of course I hope the same for Merlin

What an ordeal! I'm so glad you got him back. I have noticed with our captive birds that they don't seem to understand how to fly down as well as they know how to fly up. Maybe this is something we should all work on training our birds to do(indoors of course) just as a fail safe should anything like this happen to anyone else.

So glad sweet little Merlin is home and safe. Sounds like such a scary ordeal and I am very happy that it ended in a lesson learned not a tragedy.

Oh Mayden , what a day you have had !! The stress alone is a killer.
I am so happy and relieved that you got Merlin back !

Sleep well , you definitely need it

So good to have a happy ending to these horrible stories.
Lesson learned I'm sure.

IcyWolf said:

What an ordeal! I'm so glad you got him back. I have noticed with our captive birds that they don't seem to understand how to fly down as well as they know how to fly up. Maybe this is something we should all work on training our birds to do(indoors of course) just as a fail safe should anything like this happen to anyone else.

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.I was told to get your bird used to stepping up onto a tree branch .
This way , their not afraid of it and you can hook it onto a tree cutter and expend the pole if you need to. My friend retrieved her birds back the same way. Thank God she trained them to do this !
I have been working with Yoshi and Rosie with this. Rosie does it no problem but Yoshi is still frightened of it. So it will take some patience and time and he will soon enough be jumping onto it.
He just needs to see Rosie do it a couple more times I guess

A recall is the next best thing or the first best thing I guess , but in times of fear , the recall may not work and you will need to do the retrieving another way , hence the tree branch method.

God lets hope this doesnt happen to anyone else

IcyWolf said:

What an ordeal! I'm so glad you got him back. I have noticed with our captive birds that they don't seem to understand how to fly down as well as they know how to fly up. Maybe this is something we should all work on training our birds to do(indoors of course) just as a fail safe should anything like this happen to anyone else.

Click to expand...

You made a really good point. That does seem to be true. But, I'm kind of at a loss right now trying to think how to teach it. All I can think is try to set them up high in the house, near the ceiling and call them back to me as I sit on the floor or something? I think it's worth working on. I admit I haven't put much time into recall training either. At this time my only flyer is Rowdy. When I hold my finger up she comes and lands on it. Sure doesn't mean she would do it outside though. She might not even be able to tell I'm standing at the bottom of the tree holding it up for her. And poor Merlin couldn't see good enough to find me anyway unless she could do it by my voice.

We might all benefit though from spending time each day working on recall training. An escape can happen to anyone. I haven't had it with a bird yet, thankfully, but it's not like I've never had any animal escapes My little mare is quite adept at undoing latches of all kinds, getting out of her stall, then the barn and leaping over the fence to go run circles around a neighbor's house. It's even happened at 4am, lol! Luckily they were all asleep and had no idea. I heard her gallop past the bedroom window. And I've certainly had my share of dog escapes.

Yeah, when they are all overly excited or frightened the recall may not work.

Ha, when I'm less tired, someone remind me to tell you about the pig escape! That one involved the police

roxynoodle said:

Ha, when I'm less tired, someone remind me to tell you about the pig escape! That one involved the police

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Lol, I'm not even going to say the obvious joke here....

IcyWolf said:

roxynoodle said:

Ha, when I'm less tired, someone remind me to tell you about the pig escape! That one involved the police

Click to expand...

Lol, I'm not even going to say the obvious joke here....

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LOL! I didn't even think of it! Now I'm cracking up and trying not to wake the birds up. Yes, someone called the police over him. It's a long story though.

OMG ! That is really a funny one LMAO

Mayden,

I'm sooo happy for you that you got your baby back! I'm sure I would have cried too. Please keep telling your story to all who will listen I see so many posts of people taking their birds out without a harness and i'm so afraid for them and for their birds. I'm just happy your ordeal is done!

roxynoodle said:

IcyWolf said:

What an ordeal! I'm so glad you got him back. I have noticed with our captive birds that they don't seem to understand how to fly down as well as they know how to fly up. Maybe this is something we should all work on training our birds to do(indoors of course) just as a fail safe should anything like this happen to anyone else.

Click to expand...

You made a really good point. That does seem to be true. But, I'm kind of at a loss right now trying to think how to teach it. All I can think is try to set them up high in the house, near the ceiling and call them back to me as I sit on the floor or something? I think it's worth working on. I admit I haven't put much time into recall training either. At this time my only flyer is Rowdy. When I hold my finger up she comes and lands on it. Sure doesn't mean she would do it outside though. She might not even be able to tell I'm standing at the bottom of the tree holding it up for her. And poor Merlin couldn't see good enough to find me anyway unless she could do it by my voice.

We might all benefit though from spending time each day working on recall training. An escape can happen to anyone. I haven't had it with a bird yet, thankfully, but it's not like I've never had any animal escapes My little mare is quite adept at undoing latches of all kinds, getting out of her stall, then the barn and leaping over the fence to go run circles around a neighbor's house. It's even happened at 4am, lol! Luckily they were all asleep and had no idea. I heard her gallop past the bedroom window. And I've certainly had my share of dog escapes.

Yeah, when they are all overly excited or frightened the recall may not work.

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Just put Rowdy somewhere and stand back and just hold your finger or arm out and let her come to you. Do it a few times ,, then add the "Rowdy come" command to it. Then increase your distance. If she hesitates , return to a closer point and do the recall again . Never increase the distance until she is comfortable flying distances.
And , of course , rewarding with her favorite bits of seed or fruit or whatever is small enough that she really likes and can finish rather quickly. This makes training easier If food rewards dont work , use verbal praise and or pets , and alot of kisses
Yoshi responds to that more then anything ,so all I have to do is make a big deal over something he did and he just starts jumping up and down , being so proud of himself lolol.

But I would definitely use the tree branch method. Getting them used to stepping down on it may save their life one day because the recall isnt going to work if they are too afraid to fly down to you because it's getting dark or there is a predator about,
Using a tree cutter with a tree branch attached to it is a Godsend to retrieve wayward birds.

Oh my! My heart was pounding as I started reading your post. I'm so very glad yougot Merlin back! One thing I've read suggested to practice flying down is to put your bird at the top of a staircase and call them down to you. Starting with just a few steps and increasing. Obviously this only works if yoou have more than one story and my home is only one story.

Rio Mom said:

Oh my! My heart was pounding as I started reading your post. I'm so very glad yougot Merlin back! One thing I've read suggested to practice flying down is to put your bird at the top of a staircase and call them down to you. Starting with just a few steps and increasing. Obviously this only works if yoou have more than one story and my home is only one story.

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That's a great suggestion for me. And it's especially tall because the downstairs was once 10 foot ceilings. I'm going to start tomorrow with Rowdy. Once Pete is flying he will be working with me on it, too. So far the only thing I've taught him is to get back on my leg when I tap my thigh. He's been exploring a lot and trying to eat the remotes and play with a nice vase that I don't want him on