Abstract
Many parrots still have their wings clipped. In this article, Greg Glendell explains why, in his experience, clipping is not necessary and may even cause more problems than it can solve.
The Flying Parrot
It sometimes comes as a surprise to bird keepers (who may only know parrots in captivity) that most wild parrots are ace aeronauts. And, they have to be for one very simple reason: to escape being caught by an equally skilled hawk intent on catching a parrot for food. Wild parrots who escape such attacks at high speed and can fly with precision in a tightly packed flock are the ones who survive to live another day.
So what has this to do with the pet bird in your home? Well, we are always reminding ourselves that parrots are not really domesticated birds, but remain essentially the same as those in the wild. This is very true! Throughout their long history of evolution, parrots have refined their flying abilities for the sake of sheer survival. Wild parrots typically fly at 35 to 45 mph and can keep this up for several hours when required. The parrot in the home has retained all the instinctive behaviors found in a wild bird vulnerable to attack from predators. In fact, the bird's whole body, behavior and lifestyle are adapted for flight. Due to this evolutionary history, flight is also vital to a parrot's health and well-being even when it is in captivity. A flying creature cannot get effective aerobic exercise merely by climbing around any more than a dog can get effective exercise unless it is able to run around each day. Pet parrots which do have regular daily exercise by flying are also strong, fit and healthy birds. Flight is as vital for a bird as running is for dogs or horses.
How Parrots Learn to Fly
When baby parrots fledge and leave the nest, they have a strong natural urge to fly though they don't have the skills for precision flight; these skills can only be acquired by experience.
All birds (both wild ones and pet birds) are clumsy for a while during this stage. Just like a human toddler learning to walk instead of crawl, the birds will have accidents. They may crash land and misjudge distances when landing. Birds in captivity have two extra problems to overcome when learning to fly.
First, there is the problem of taking off in the still 'dead' air of a room. In the wild, the bird would normally experience the wind and turn instinctively into this to take off and land more easily.
Second is a lack of space. Learning to fly within the confines of a room is both difficult and unnatural. The bird has insufficient space to gain any speed before it then has to find somewhere to land. In the wild, it might fly a great distance before finding a suitable place to land and then prepare itself as it approaches the perch. Fledgling parrots tend to follow their parents on early flights and rely on them to show them where to land.
With this in mind, as the bird's main carer, you should replicate this guidance by showing your bird which places you would like him to use as perches to land on; but, do this before the bird is asked to fly to these places. Just use the 'Step up' and 'Step down' requests to get your bird used to a range of places in the room(s) he has access to. This might include the backs of chairs, a table, settee, window ledges, etc. Pet birds also need to be taught about the problems oflarge-pane windows. It's best to make these invisible barriers more obvious to the bird by hanging net curtains at them or sticking something on the window such as diagonal strips of dark masking/duct tape (birds may try to perch on horizontally arranged tape). Once the bird is familiar with the window, the tape can be removed.
At first, young birds are not aware of the extent of their own wingspan and an Amazon or African grey, with a wingspan of about 28 inches (75cms) may collide with a door post as it tries to fly through. However, after a few attempts, they learn the trick of tucking the wings in to pass through any gap narrower than their wingspan. Given the time and space in which to learn, pet parrots soon acquire the skills to fly well, though this may take a few weeks. You will see a big change in a young bird's flying abilities as soon as it learns how to apply the 'air-brakes'. It does this by dropping its tail feathers and using some reverse thrust with its primary feathers as it comes in to land. Following acquisition of these skills, the birds fly with much greater confidence and control.
The bird will soon have better speed control and use its tail and a banking manoeuvre to change direction as well as reduce speed. To land properly, the skilled flyer swoops up to the perch while the tail is dropped down. This allows it to reduce speed. At the point oflanding (and unlike aircraft), the bird has to stall to ensure zero airspeed as it reaches the perch. Then, it twists its primary feathers forward to brake as it puts its feet out to grip the perch. Clipped birds will still sometimes attempt to fly, but the loss of their primary feathers causes another problem-crash landings.