I recently had a thread about the problems we were having with the birds being fully flighted (mainly Doyle and his issues of landing on the other fids cages) and I was worried that we would have to clip again to keep them safe. I am happy to report that since that post Doyle has not landed on Danny's cage once! I figured out the reason he was doing it was because he had not perfected his turns and he simply needed somewhere to land.

I know that the clipping decision is a personal one and I having nothing but respect for people on both side of the arguement. I know we all do what is right and best in our own personal situations. So that is my disclaimer, lol.

My point of this thread is to share what a joy it has been to see my fids learn to use their wings. It is amazing to see them go from falling gracefully to being able to turn any corner and do laps around the living room. It is so weird to me how quickly Doyle has perfected his flying. And Prinny is following behind so quickly. She has gained this confidence in our home and around people. She is so completely different than the bird I first met last December. She now will fly to me or my husband on her own. And I really feel like it has made her more comfortable around people because she knows she can get away if she feels threatened (which I am sure she felt numerous times in her former home). Scarlett and Danny are still working on the flying. Danny does occassionally do laps around the room but not nearly as frequently as the others. I think his feet hurt when he lands because of all the issues he has had with them.

I would love to hear your stories of how your birds learning how to fly has changed their attitudes and confidence.

What a great post! I'm so happy that you figured out the reason behind Doyle landing on Danny's cage, and that he now has perfected his flying skills. It really is a joy to see them learn how to master their skills. Prinny's newfound confidence sounds like what Lulu went through. She, too, became more comfortable around strangers and just had more confidence overall.

Jerry seemed born to fly from the start. As soon as his clipped wings grew out he mastered nearly everything. He is a beautiful sight to see in flight, so graceful and fast. You can see the excitement in his eyes after doing many laps around the house.

Winston is still learning. I honestly thought that he would have mastered his flying skills quicker than he has. But his muscle strength was very weak and his confidence was low, so this has been a huge lesson for me to see just how large the flying learning curve can be. He managed to get landings down in about 2 days, but he has been working hard - for 3 months now - to manage flying down, gaining speed, confidence to round corners, hover. He is gradually getting faster in speed and more graceful little by little. He now has the confidence to turn corners and that confidence has translated to other areas of his life - he's now more comfortable trying out new things.

I have alway kept full flighted birds. Eve is an exceptional flyer, and is well trained in flight commands. I've seen so many birds blossom in personality, weather that be a good thing or bad thing for the humans involved. The confidence they have and the health benefits are worth it to me. I know not everybody can do this and I also respect others personal experience and thoughts on the subject.
I know on one lady who has a green check that she take to Central Park in NYC to fly! She reads a book the bird is off playing and flying around and than when she is ready to leave she calls the bird and he comes back and they go home! That I simply do not have the guts to do! I would be afraid of hawks and my bird getting lost. I asked her about this and she said she would rather have her bird happy and flying out doors for 3 years than 20 years sitting on cage.

Joey flys around here making very 45 degree sharp turns. It scared me at first but in watching him he is able to make these turns without great difficulty. oh I still watch him....I am going to get something for him to land on at the corner so that he doesnt do these tipsy turvey flights...

sami takes off (she is flightless right now) . does a squat landing on carpet.. then proceeds to find ladder then climbs up ladder and flies up to top of partition again..... this she does oh maybe 15 times a day..nothing going to stop her she says.......

Sarah your point about Winston is very important because people assume wings = flight SKILLS. In fact they dont even know there's such a thing as skill. So they give up in fear (understandable) at the first falter.

It also proves that it takes a LONG TIME TO FLEDGE and LEARN and even longer for older birds. Especially those who never fledged.

Doyle'sMommy Thank you for starting this thread and thank you all for being open minded enough to at least "risk" the fact that it's true that your birds will be much healthier and confident and let go of alot of neuroses when they fly.

And able to make at least a "couple" of decisions themselves. Not to mention taking away the burden of always having to beak themselves around like a third hand.

I also think although they go through phases like insisting to liberate the mini-blind from it's strings (lol) those phases pass and overall being a bird caretaker is much better for the humans too, living with flighted birds.

Piper took 3 full days to learn she could not fly up vertically, then realized she needed a take off runway, backed up, and made it...to the doorframe. LOL. She was very happy about that and moved on to master small spaces and doing a U-turn.

Might be a fun thread to list the phases of flight learning. If we compare, we may find it's just like kids crawling before walking, and they all display the same milestones in the same order!

This is very true, I've witnessed this through Winston. I can see him hesitate on something at the very last second, like when he was scared to turn corners he would fly to it and then do a sudden U-turn because he knew he would be out of his comfort zone and I'm sure that scared him.

This is a good idea.

My guys mastered landing first. Lulu had trouble turning and steering at first too. U-turns seemed to come fairly soon after they mastered landing and turns in general. Hovering took quite awhile.

Tommaso was clipped when I first got him. I let his wings grow out to see how he did. (of course it's a personal preference). It is just a joy to watch him fly. At first he had a hard time landing on perches that I had outside his cage. Now it just amazes me how he is right on in the landings. He'll fly off the perch, fly into the next room making a nice u turn, fly down to get through the door back into the office, then land on his small stand or on me. I just enjoy watching him. I think Tommaso is pretty proud of himself too.

Morena

Tausi is a year and a half old now, and still not a "comfortable" flyer. His breeder clipped him severely before he fledged, and we've been playing catch-up ever since. The poor guy still has very little control, and landings are always an adventure.

Great to hear that Doyle is becoming a master of his craft, and that he no longer lands on Danny's cage. Way to go, Doyle!

valo came to me clipped too, and ever since his flights have grown out (which is about 8mths now) he's constantly improved regarding his flying skills.... at the beginning it was more a trying out, while now he's actually "playing" while flying - you can sort of "throw" him, and he'll keep his wings in for a while before opening them up to gain height and then gliding through the room. he's never had big problems with u-turns....

bella is still working on her flying skills - she was severely clipped, and she's still not all that comfident (nor elegant - sorry, girlie ). but she's working on it... and she tries... i guess that's the biggest thing, to get them to try