Carly Lu’s Flight Blog

Carly will be getting a new grey companion later this summer! She is always intensely interested whenever she sees other greys (especially babies) and I had always intended to get another one. Wendy Craig, who was the breeder of Otis and Annie and also breeds African Greys, said that they do tend to like to stay with their own kind, unlike macaws. Our ‘baby brother” is one of Wendy’s who is now 8 weeks old. He will be fully weaned by her, and she is one of the best out there. Having seen her home and aviaries in Texas, and seen how she cares for and trains her birds, I know this will be the best environment one could ever ask for for a well-socialized and healthy bird.

Here are some pics!

6 weeks old:

8 weeks old:

I had always intended for my next parrot to be a re-home, but given our living situation now, with 4 parrots in a small home where they all have to be together peacefully all the time, a re-home would be a bit risky if there were any behavioral problems. Also difficult to find a rehome who is not clipped, though sometime in the future when there is more time and space I would definitely be up for going through the adult fledging process again.

I’ll keep pictures posted here: Piper’s Pictures

This is the latest version of the Birdtricks.com “animal rights” press release, from PRWeb.com. This was released today,after the incident recently where someone watched these very videos, tried it himself, and lost his African Grey Parrot (Tui).

Thousands Inflict Animal Cruelty On Their Parrot

Birdtricks.com shows how the common practice of clipping a pet parrot’s wings causes severe emotional damage to pet birds, and how a new method of raising pet birds allows pet bird owners a way to let their birds fly freely outside, but still come back when you call them. This gives them all the exercise nature intended them to have, and provides dramatic amounts of emotional stimulus.

Birdtricks.com has shown clipping causes severe emotional damage?? (Their new research division?) Guilt-tripping people into trying to freefly their bird, especially using the unweaned baby bird method, in my opinion borders on a disgusting disregard of ethics.

Also, this part of their press release explicitly states that the Cressi videos Tui’s owner watched are intended to teach people how to freefly their bird, contrary to claims that they are just posted to demonstrate what they have done:

In an effort to teach parrot owners how to use positive reinforcement to train their birds for lasting results and an end to bad behaviors like screeching, biting, and feather plucking, Birdtricks.com has documented a case study of how they used positive reinforcement to train their Congo African Grey to safely fly outside, including videos and pictures of the entire process.

This all just makes me sick. I am all for keeping birds flighted, but it is unethical in the extreme to advocate it for everyone on the grounds that not doing so is animal cruelty. Pushing people to do this whose birds are not ready for it, or who may not be up for it themselves, will result in losses — THAT is animal cruelty.

This kind of advertising is just morally depraved.

(For more on the “freeflight as enrichment” issue, see this post, and on the unweaned baby method, Don’t Be Bird-tricked.)

Just a few pics from our Memorial Day weekend outing on Saturday. The beach was blessedly uncrowded because it had been cold and rainy earlier in the day. Every one was doing very low flights for some reason, including the seagulls. My favorite of the day:

Low flying…

We found a stranded baby seal late in the day and stood watch for awhile. That gave Carly a lot of time to make friends.

She was her normal friendly self today, not the flirty, lovestruck teenager she has been this spring. Her intense “coming of age” seems to be coming to an end. Her excessive grooming of a “brood patch” and nipping at her wing feathers has thankfully stopped also. Here you can see her big fuzzy belly.

More pictures in the gallery.

In response to a comment by Gay Noeth, I agree and do not think people should undertake outdoor flight training just because they want a better life for their bird. Even a bird who is free-flighted spends most of its time indoors, and that life also needs to be enriching, filled with exercise opportunities, and choice. The friends I know who do freefly do it with an interest that borders on obsession. It takes over our weekends, our vacations, and our social life. It’s not something that’s just a casual pastime, like walking a dog. It’s also no guarantee of a better life, if it’s not done safely or if their life indoors is too restrictive. I have seen some home setups and aviaries that I would move into myself if I could!

Anyone who tries to guilt trip pet owners into feeling they must freefly their bird, such as the widely circulated “press release” by Birdtricks.com which is headlined, “Thousands Inflict Animal Cruelty On Their Parrot“, is at best morally indifferent. Considering the advertisement goes on to say that their intent is to teach pet owners how to freefly their parrot with a series of videos which demonstrate poor, rushed, and inconsistent training technique from a total novice in bird training, it is outright reckless. I can think of no reason to publicize this kind of thing with an “animal cruelty” press release, other than to drum up business at the expense of pet parrots.

My primary interest is seeing companion birds’ lives as enriched and “natural” as possible, so they can be birds, not toys. I think keeping birds flighted is a very large part of that, and freeflight is wonderful. But to this day one of the most exciting training events Carly and I have had together was when she did that first voluntary jump-flap off the counter, when she had barely any flight feathers. If I could see more people experience this kind of interaction with their birds, I would be a very happy camper indeed!

I was pondering all day the sad video about Tui that was posted on YouTube. Tui is an African Grey parrot whose owner saw videos of freeflight on YouTube, and was told it was easy to do. You can see it on Sid Price’s Training Blog, with some thoughtful commentary:

Comments on YouTube video.

I will also link to this video on my pages with flight training info, in the hopes that people will take it very seriously.

The local weekly San Diego Reader is doing a series on walking exotic pets. Somehow they heard about Carly and got in touch to do an interview and come see Carly and her macaw and cockatoo pals fly at the beach. It was a nice breezy day and they were all pretty active. Carly and Gizmo did some of their new synchronized diving, and Annie joined her for awhile as well.

Annie & Carly

More photos: May 2008 Gallery
All photos by Hugh Choi.

Here is a new blog page with info on how we did recall training, including links to some resources for getting a good training foundation in place:

Recall Training Basics

A few thoughts on hard-sell parrot “training” marketing.
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There have been advocates recently of training parrots for freeflight by relying on the “baby bond” rather than a solid foundation of positive reinforcement training at an appropriate age. This style encourages novices with little to no parrot care experience to purchase unweaned babies to feed and start flying before the weaning period is finished. The May 2008 World Parrot Trust newsletter features this column by Jim McKendry of the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Australia, where he works with free-flighted birds and parrot behavior (Experts & Answers). In this section he is responding to a question about a newly adopted 17-week old Congo African Grey parrot who was not fully weaned:

I noticed that Dr. Brian Speer has responded to another question you submitted concerning an appropriate diet for an unweaned African Grey. It is important that we continue to reinforce to the parrot owning community just how completely inappropriate it is to purchase a parrot as young as this. This is perhaps the most critical stage of development in a parrot’s life. A time where it needs to be socialised with other parrots, provided opportunities to forage, explore its environment, develop its flight skills, muscle tone and coordination, and given time to properly develop its independence. Breeders need to be challenged to ensure that each of these absolutely essential experiences have been catered for prior to being sold.

The sale of unweaned baby birds by stores and bird marts is also illegal in the state of California, with strict guidelines for ensuring a proper age and weight before adoption. A good breeder can provide the social environment needed with other birds, the space to develop and practice flight, as well as the feeding care required for a healthy transition to independence. If a breeder you select will not allow a bird to fledge naturally, keep looking!

Many well-trained free-flighted parrots have started well past the weaning age, or even as older adults. For some examples, see the Colorado Fly Week gallery. All of the birds at this event started training no younger than 6 months, with the exception of one cockatoo who was weaned by her trainer, an experienced hand feeder, when she could not be kept with the breeder. Training is the key, not the false security of the temporary baby bond.

Sometimes the foursome flying turns into a “missing man” formation when Carly takes a dive. (All photos by Hugh Choi.)

Carly coming in for a landing…

oh — FAKEOUT!