Last night Winston was feeling adventurous! When he comes out to play every day he has only stayed in the living room, unless really spooked (but that doesn't happen much anymore).

Jerry and Lulu do laps around the house - through the living room, dining room, kitchen, and bird room since you can go in a full circle through those rooms. They don't explore, they simply do laps round and round when they have tons to energy to burn off. When they take off for laps, poor Winston tries to join in, but as soon as he gets to the edge of the living room he hesitates and makes a big U turn and comes right back to one of his gyms.

Until last night....... Towards the end of the evening, Jerry flew back to his cage to play. I usually take that opportunity to shut him in while I heat their veggies, and then Lulu eats first - it's just easier that way, Jerry is a pest and it gives Winston time to wind down and he happily preens and sings. Last night, however, Winston decided to take a trip around the house to find Jerry! They weren't even contact calling, Winston just found some courage and took off!

He found his way to the kitchen, but he wasn't satisfied there and didn't land. On to the bird room and at last he spots Jerry's cage. He clings to the side of the cage and Jerry is highly amused by this Winston climbs to the top of Jerry's cage and runs around - this would typically not be a problem since Jerry doesn't care and they were talking through the bars, but Jerry's cage is huge and way up high - I literally have to stand on a chair to change his food & water and I have to get my husband to carry it down to clean it. But it's the best place for his safety, and he likes it up high. So Winston shows no signs of coming down by himself (and remember he's still not too keen on fingers...) so I open Jerry's door to maybe coax Winston down. I did not expect this, but Winston climbed down and INTO Jerry's cage! And he seemed to like it in there, he checked it out a bit. Jerry didn't know what to think. I was nervous that Jerry would be territorial around his favorite toys, but he was more amused than anything.

But we still had the problem of removing Winston - the cage is so bulky that I don't like taking it down with any birds in it. So I get Jerry on my finger, and by this time Dave and Lulu are in the room to watch the show. I take everyone to the living room, thinking that Winston will follow his flock and not want to be left alone. Well he did eventually leave Jerry's cage (and no, I do not want to cage them together any time soon yet, I'm still not convinced that's best for them) - and I then shut it lol - but he had a hard time finding his way OUT of the bird room and around the corner - I think he's leary of rounding corners still. But after much "air traffic-controlling" by me, I managed to get him back in the living room and he happily flew to the boing.

The poor boy was sooo tired by the end of his adventure! It went on for nearly 30 minutes because I did let him try to explore and go at his own pace, but he still gets exhausted easily and would land in some undesirable places just because he needed to land and take a breather. It was an adventure for all! I'm curious to see if he's as courageous tonight!

Wow good for Winston! It sounds like he is really getting comfortable in his new home! I wish my birds would do laps, lol.

That was some adventure - you may have to house them together soon if that keeps up. Winston is trying to keep up - good for him.
Why are you hesitating? Are you afraid they'll fight when you're not there; to save Jerry?

Sarah, that's great! Sounds like Winston had quite a time, and soon enough he'll be racing the other two when they do their laps. Interesting about his reaction to right-angle corners. Do you recall if Jerry and Lulu were the same way at first? I wouldn't be surprised. Corners like that aren't something that a bird would run into very often in the wild. You've got me wondering now. We live in a mobile home, so Quito is used to straight-line or open room cornering. I'll have to experiment with having her in the office here with me, and then go out around the corner to see what she does. She probably won't let me get out the door without flying to my shoulder!

Tausi still doesn't fly with enough control to corner much. He usually just takes off, and stops when he runs into something, the poor guy. Lately he seems to have a little bit more control with landings, but it still ain't pretty.

I definitely do want to see how they do in Jerry's cage - but I want to do that when I have a whole day around the house to observe them. When Winston had his adventure last evening it was getting late and it was nearly bedtime for them. I'm not ready to leave them in the cage together overnight when I can't supervise.

I'm hesitant because they do squabble regularly - and to me it seems like (usually Winston will want to get away for a minute) they need to fly all the way across the room. I worry that a cage isn't enough "getaway" room and someone will get ticked off quickly if the other persists. I know I won't know until I try - but I think I also want to put all new/neutral toys in when I have them in at first - Jerry can be pretty attached to his bells and I worry about him being a brat if Winston were to play with them. But I also wonder if what I'm observing is playing and not really squabbling.....it's like they play tag of some sort, constantly flying back and forth and back and forth.

But I do think that last night's events are looking bright for housing them together some day!

I honestly can't remember if Jerry and Lulu were cautious about corners - I want to say no though. But then again, both came to us clipped and I think they got the layout of the house down pat before they were flighted, so I would assume it was less intimidating. They used to and still do ride around the house with us on shoulders/hands. I tried taking Winston around the house while in his cage and tapped on all windows and showed him around, but maybe I should do that more often now.

Regarding corners

Nate - your birds were clipped?

Sarah - i know that Budgies can hover - Laker could do it almost from the start - he's hovered in & out of the closet or around corners - they really like to see where they're going. Now he kind of flies like a duck when he does corners - his tail is fanned & he goes upward as he enters the room.

~ & i like to think about these issues of sharing, as the day approaches when Rio will be home.

Jerry can hover for sure (Lulu too, it always fascinates me to see her hover). I don't think Winston has had enough practice to hover, maybe that's why he's still cautious about turning corners. I do try and keep all open rooms well lit so that he can see well. He can do U turns but that's about as fancy as he gets at the moment. And his landing ability is good, he can land spontaneously. He just needs more practice, practice, practice I suppose!

Winston went on another adventure last night! I was in the kitchen making their bedtime snack and Dave was playing video games in the living room with the birds. Lulu flew to the kitchen to hang out on the window sill and beg for treats. I went to check on the budgies since Jerry usually follows Lulu when she flies, but this time, no Jerry. I peeked in the living room and didn't see any blue budgies. I peeked in the bird room and there were Jerry and Winston in Jerry's cage

I let them play for awhile and they would climb in and out of the cage and run around on top of it - while I think Winston has a good time generally, I think he also looks like, "Oh shoot, why am I up here again?" Jerry gets so excited to have him in and on his cage that he'll run around and chase him and Winston looked a little flustered at that...

Jerry and Lulu went back out into the living room. I stayed and watched what Winston did - he tried many times to follow them back to the living room and I made an interesting observation. Jerry's cage is way up high. When Winston is on Jerry's cage, he takes off towards the doorway, but he flies in a straight line at the same height, meaning that he needs to fly DOWN before he can fly out of the door. I watched him try to work on this for at least 30 minutes. I guess he needs more flying practice to fly downwards, he was so close but at the last minute as he would approach the wall above the doorway he would get nervous and turn back around. I tried getting Jerry and Lulu to demonstrate, and he would try to follow them, but the same thing would happen every time.

Tomorrow I plan on letting them spend the afternoon in Jerry's cage together while I'm home to check on them. I'll leave the cage door open so that one or the other can escape if need be....I hope it goes well!!

Oh yes! Quito was fledged but then clipped by her breeder. Tausi was never fledged, and clipped so radically that he dropped like a rock! It was awful. In both cases, it was before I'd reached the conclusion that flight was right. I'm fully prepared to admit that it no doubt made handling easier (for me) during the initial taming.

Sarah, that's cute. Yes flying DOWN is a big skill leap. That's why all the birds who get loose outside won't fly down out of the tree even when they can see their owners.

Free flyers spend months training that skill. It took Piper about a month of determination before she could "make herself" fly down to me. We did it incrementally. First a foot in distance away, to a perch. Then I got lower and lower till I was on my knees etc... until I could lie on the floor and call her. (from the entertainment center).

It'll happen but probably not soon. I'd encourage him onto a perch from his own cage at your chest level, then you can move to using the perch when he'sup high. I use a long 15 inch narrow dowel for up high. They all know what it means when they see it coming. (that they are going for a ride elsewhere).