Today was the first time I free flew Peanut, a sun conure outside. He seemed to enjoy the experience. I first had to send the dogs away because he was worried about them. He recalls fine inside the house. When he has had a fly outside before, he has always boomeranged back to me. This was the first time I set him apart from me and called him. I put him in a low branch of a tree and called, he flew about 5 meters weaving as he came. After 3 such tries my son set him flying while I called over about 8 meters but he detoured to a tree. It seemed he was having a lot of fun playing in the tree as he started high speed shredding. After a few minutes my son bent the branch down (he needed his perch to become unbalanced) to set him flying, and he came to me. He started whispering in my ear and this usually means cuddle and be nice time so I felt he had enough adventure for one day. Once he got back to his buddies he was very much full of energy and seemed to be telling his buddies where he went. I was a little concerned when he was in the tree shredding as he was very much higher than me. What I don’t know is, would it have been best to wait for him to finish doing his bird stuff, shredding the tree, (was a really big tree, may have taken a long time) or to encourage him to come when called. Free flying is scary stuff when my experience has been clipped birds before.

Excellent beginning!

I bet however that there will be some setbacks as you go along. Are you taking him out before his meals so he's motivated to come when he's hungry[to a juicy treat]?

I would think that with our son's help this could be an excellent fun time for him & he'd really get good at it.

From my limited experience - if they are distracted you can teach them to ignore your commands . Best to wait until they are looking at you before calling.

Do you have a courtyard or some such place to train? Maybe without a tree - not that it matters sometimes - but maybe a prearranged perch [mobile] would be good to have on hand. My Laker likes to come to a hand held stick rather than to the hand. It helps with higher up places as well.

I'm so happy for you & so excited to hear that it went well.

Wow- that's exciting!!

I agree with Jac- definitely take him out hungry and bring his favorite treat. Even more incentive to come back to you.

I took him out late in the day, when he will get worried about his bed and his supper. Early in the morning he has too much bird stuff to do and is not good at paying attention. Inside the house and in the aviary, (even the part that is not his place) is no trouble to recall since there is no new entertainment. Maybe I need and open space with no trees.

I would say he should be very hungry. Also the pros don't use any other people during the training. And you're right about no dogs too. They normally start under a canopy of trees. Part of it is predators. Actually you want him to stay in the tree when he's there and wait for your call.

Try parrot recall training on yahoo, hugh choi. He's very nice and not quite as ADAMANT about super strict weight management. There are many experienced people there. One guy who has a show where they fly through fire. He's very adamant and people get mad at him but I believe it's important to hear the WHOLE communitys cautions and advise on such an important topic.

Hugh (and the fire guy too) has trained alot of humans on how to do recall ,,,meaning the steps in progression. I never really paid alot of attention to the distances when beginners start since I had no intentions of recalling Piper outdoors. But Peanut is small and a gust could get him off point so having an experienced trainer might smooth the way. Hugh is not at all condescending or pushy and you'll like him. Also he posts like you, short and sweet unless it's important

This is him:

theotiseffect.com - an urban tail

His birds are Red Fronts and go all over the US ....

He may have a better idea like going to a place where there is absolutely NOwhere to risk an overnighter but without predators is really really really important (i know you know lol).

that is just SO amazing! congratulations

I forgot to say, weighing Peanut during the day is a tool that should help if you are using food like the pros do. I think that's important unless you dont have any danger around your house. Never go out at full weight in other words. Hugh can tell you more about percentages that they use. And your likelyhood of success without doing weight management. Since they hear all the stories on many boards and at competitions.

That is great Angie. I am sure the little guy had lots to tell his buddies.

I really can't do that here. Way too many hawks. They are really overpopulated here. We have several aeries out in the park behind my house where the nest. One morning I heard a lot of commotion in my yard. There was a red tailed hawk in a tree and a bunch of little birds were swooping at him. They are beautiful but scarey for even my little dogs.

Sorry I didn't mean to get off topic.

Good Luck.

In answer to Jac, I have never perch trained any of the suns, I think if I offered a perch they would take it as a chewing gift. Peanut can be picked up from high or low just with the tip of a finger. Up high he can balance both feet on one finger tip. His landing place is a shoulder even though I call him to my finger.

I am part of the yahoo list. Currently Joe Krathwohl is answering the posts. He seems to think Peanut is too heavy at only 2.5% under. He is too infected with the joys of morning for me to fly him empty in the morning. He has too much bird stuff to do, I have to wait till later in the day when he slows down. Food is also not a major motivation for him. Maybe if he was a lot hungrier but difficult because he shares with buddies. So yes later in the day he is hungry but not starvingly so.

It was amusing to watch him trying to shred a big tree, at high speed. He was raining twigs on us.

Jim, hawks are dangerous and I don't think I would be considering this if I had to worry about ariel predators also. Peanut is not even a snack.

Oh good, yeah Joe's the fly through fire guy. Well that's great at least you are in touch. I can totally imagine Peanut thinking he can shred the tree. I'm sure it's so fun for him going out and he'll settle down to business when it becomes routine. Maybe. ha ha