PickleMeDickles
New member
- May 17, 2015
- 375
- 10
- Parrots
- SassyByrd (DYH Amazon) JoJo (GCC) Betty (GCC) DEARLY LOVED fids lost to “Teflon Disaster� 12/17 RIP Pickles (GC),RIP Winston (Sun), RIP Lady PLEASE TAKE 5 MINUTES &TOSS OUT ALL YOUR TEFLON NOW!
I have the bravest little girl in the world! SassyByrd has never flown. She is under 5 and didn't even have a flight "reflex?". If startled or if she "slipped" she dropped like a rock. For me personally, it was just too sad to try to do nothing. So 6ish months ago daily flight lessons commenced. But progress was so slow. And oftentimes it seemed Sass regressed way more than progressed. She hit more walls and windows than I dare count. Countless hours walking along walls and windows to "tap and share" all solid surfaces. But nothing daunted her. I am just in awe in the amount of try and try again she has.
Then about a month ago she nailed a landing after a "startled" flight. She strutted up and down the perch proclaiming "SassyByrd!!! FlyingBird!!!" Then, everytime she nailed a landing we all (hubby, me, employees, friends) would clap and cheer and she would get some type of favored treat. Then about 10 days ago I started really encouraging her to take "purposeful" flight by placing her on my hand and counting, 1...2....3...GO! On GO I would gently swing my hand towards the intended target and after a few tries she caught on and flew the 2-3 feet to her target. Of course her enraptured audience would now clap and cheer her takeoffs and tell her how brave and strong she was. And poor little Sass would pant and breath heavily at first, but slowly this too got better and better. I was very careful to take things slow and let her mental AND physical state be our guide.
Everyday I stepped further and further away from the target and my little girl was game. Now she flew a good 15-20 feet at a time. We would do 3 flights 3-4 times a day and we worked up from there. Soon it was 6-7 flights 4-5 times a day. Landing were perfected and flight control had obvious improvements from session to session.
Then 3 days ago she made her first "voluntary" flight. By voluntary, I mean she was at point A and "she" wanted to go to point B and NAILED IT! The strut and vocal proclamations were louder than ever, letting the world know what a feat she had accomplished. And now, there is no holding her back. She flies ALL DAY LONG! And if a human dares to "taxi" her to a locating she lets you know this is not to be tolerated and takes off to beat the taxi It's like we have made 1 inch of progress daily (sometimes -1 inches!) for 5 months, then 6 inches a day for a month, and then one day, she quite literally took off!
We (her human staff) are just in awe! With this new level of independence her "personality" has just come into focus like you can't believe. No longer satisfied to sit on one of her trees, if something piques her curiosity she now flies in to inspect it for herself. One of the really surprising aspects to this new independence is what a social butterfly this bird is. She willingly flies to 5 of us to visit, as in to sit on the shoulder, which still makes me so nervous. But so far she has minded her manners. But she is definitely on very carefully supervised probation. Sass has even gone so far to do the weird "ear kissy parrot thingy" with everyone's ears which causes an absolute uproar around here! Thank goodness all her chosen ones are also fans! I have a feeling things going to get interesting around here!
Then about a month ago she nailed a landing after a "startled" flight. She strutted up and down the perch proclaiming "SassyByrd!!! FlyingBird!!!" Then, everytime she nailed a landing we all (hubby, me, employees, friends) would clap and cheer and she would get some type of favored treat. Then about 10 days ago I started really encouraging her to take "purposeful" flight by placing her on my hand and counting, 1...2....3...GO! On GO I would gently swing my hand towards the intended target and after a few tries she caught on and flew the 2-3 feet to her target. Of course her enraptured audience would now clap and cheer her takeoffs and tell her how brave and strong she was. And poor little Sass would pant and breath heavily at first, but slowly this too got better and better. I was very careful to take things slow and let her mental AND physical state be our guide.
Everyday I stepped further and further away from the target and my little girl was game. Now she flew a good 15-20 feet at a time. We would do 3 flights 3-4 times a day and we worked up from there. Soon it was 6-7 flights 4-5 times a day. Landing were perfected and flight control had obvious improvements from session to session.
Then 3 days ago she made her first "voluntary" flight. By voluntary, I mean she was at point A and "she" wanted to go to point B and NAILED IT! The strut and vocal proclamations were louder than ever, letting the world know what a feat she had accomplished. And now, there is no holding her back. She flies ALL DAY LONG! And if a human dares to "taxi" her to a locating she lets you know this is not to be tolerated and takes off to beat the taxi It's like we have made 1 inch of progress daily (sometimes -1 inches!) for 5 months, then 6 inches a day for a month, and then one day, she quite literally took off!
We (her human staff) are just in awe! With this new level of independence her "personality" has just come into focus like you can't believe. No longer satisfied to sit on one of her trees, if something piques her curiosity she now flies in to inspect it for herself. One of the really surprising aspects to this new independence is what a social butterfly this bird is. She willingly flies to 5 of us to visit, as in to sit on the shoulder, which still makes me so nervous. But so far she has minded her manners. But she is definitely on very carefully supervised probation. Sass has even gone so far to do the weird "ear kissy parrot thingy" with everyone's ears which causes an absolute uproar around here! Thank goodness all her chosen ones are also fans! I have a feeling things going to get interesting around here!
