So excited I had to share

[MooshieBird]

I'm so excited, Mushka flew today! I have her sit on her stand when she gets treats to contain the mess when I can. I gave her an almond today and started to go to her stand and she flew from my hand to her stand by herself. After she got done she flew back to me to get another almond! It was only 6 feet or so but I am so excited that she managed to fly when asked, and because she just felt like it. Just wanted to share.

 

[SailBoat]

Congratulations!

Now the hard work starts!
- Starting at her cage and provide flight path, by walking different routes moving away from it.
- Then from different locations, back to her cage.
- Introducing her to hard surfaces, walls, doors, windows, mirrors, pictures, etc... When she starts to lean back away from the hard surface (with time), that is an indication that your hard work is understood.
- This process is called the Real Estate Agent's Home Tour. Once the near flight paths are known, start adding additional rooms, hallways and stairways.
- Once the larger paths are know. Repeat monthly and anytime something new is added or changes.

Teaching Landings on different surfaces is also.

Also, time to think about making your home not only bird safe, but flighted bird safe!

Again, congratulations!

 

[Soyajam]

Oooh ooh and if you get the chance - practice descending (flying down) as well as flying up.

I noticed that's much harder to do as it takes a bit of 'throttle' control, as opposed to just flapping your wings like a madman. The sharper the angle of descent, the more skill you need to be able to control it properly.
(I've heard that's why birds find it so hard to come down from a tree when they escape, they can't figure out how to actually get down!)

Gosh I wish Remi would go back somewhere to eat something, she just loves getting crap everywhere!

Congratulations on your progress. Soon she'll be zooming about the place!

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

Great news! Like everyone said, practice ascending and descending by flying her up and down the stairs if you live in a two-story house. Also practice flying to different places such as her play stand, her cage, or anywhere you would like her to view as a safe landing spot. Flying really enriches the lives of parrots, and gives them the exercise they need.

 

[wrench13]

Please,please make tripliy sure that every one in the house observes new RULES about open doors and windows. W just had a member whose Amazon flew thru an open door. It only takes a few seconds. Flap, Flap, Flap and whoosh!! I would hate to read that kind of post about Mushka.

 

[MooshieBird]

First of all thanks to everyone on these forums who gave great advice and gave me the confidence to get to this point. I have already been prepping for this on that advice, we have gone over flight paths, safe landing zones and open doors and we constantly reinforce this. We actually have started going in and out the back door as it is much safer because we can close the kitchen door and Moosh can't get out. Sailboat's advice in flight paths is absolutely right, Moosh can already make hard turns to my surprise and knows where she is going. The wall and window knocking not only made sure we were accident free it's been a fun game for a while. Moosh loves to bang on things with her beak to see what sound it makes. She also likes to bang on my face because..... Why not. When she comes to a wall she does stop, even just stopping and dropping a few inches if she has to.

I am convinced she has flown before at this point. Even without her full flight feathers she is getting lift and is able to control her direction and is good at landing. She doesn't like landing on hard surfaces she can't grip like the entry way floor that is tile.

The whole day was AWESOME. At first she was tentative but then it just clicked in her head "I can fly!" and she went all day. She flew all over the den, hall, my bedroom, and her room. She flew off the floor, to the floor, off and on furniture and perches and all over me. She had so much fun. This is how she looked all day:

She flew 24 feet from her perch, down the hall, to my room making two hard turns on her longest flight and she can fly from the floor to my chest before she gets too tired for more lift. I can't imagine what she will do when her wings feather out all the way. We have lots more work to do and I am sure there will be things found that will need to change but after today I know all the work is worth it.

 

[Jen5200]

That’s so exciting - it looks like she was having a blast!

I love watching my two zip around the house, I have one very nimble flyer and one that flies a bit like a drunk pilot. Best thing I ever did was go around the house and map flight paths and obstacles with them - definitely a fun and useful game.

 

[Sunnyclover]

Congratulations! But seriously, as Wrench13 said, do be careful. Ollie was flighted for a while and one day I opened the front door and he came flying towards me to greet me but got spooked by a plastic bag in my hand and flew out the door. He then freaked out some more (he usually most likely would wait for me to get him, he isn't too keen on flying) because snowing and the snow touched his feets and he got scared again and flew all the way around to the back of the house into a small tree just missing the giant half frozen pond in the back of our house where he would have died instantly if he'd flown even 3 feet further. That was on Christmas Day too... needless to say he was promptly clipped that day and will be I until we can figure out how to screen in the front door area so there is a barrier of some kind. Be careful!

 

[Carl_Power]

Congrats on the flying guys nice les paul junior on the wall too x

 

[bigfellasdad]

Oh fantastic, flight is such a gift and I personally don't think it should ever be taken from a bird. Well done for showing Moosh the danger points and taking the time and effort to make sure its all safe.

Ive had quite a few smaller birds which are very good fliers so when Enzo came in to the house I didnt expect a larger bird to be as agile, but if anything CAGs are just as agile maybe even more so but just a slower relative speed.

Its great to teach Moosh to fly down as this seems to be the sticking point for many birds and i've heard that escaped birds will fly to tree tops and get scared of flying back down. I try and get Enzo to fly down the stairs but im not really getting any where with that, ill keep trying though

What is Moosh like with vertical take offs, im really impressed with Enzo here, it seems she can fly straight up for maybe 4 to 5ft, she does this from kitchen worktop to the top of the kitchen cupboards and of course flying up the stairs to an extent.

You do realise now Moosh has flight she will be a bit more of a handful

 

[bigfellasdad]

Try and get a slo-mo video of him in flight, they look awesome

 

[Scott]

Congratulations Mushka! Always a treat to see our fids in their natural environment!