Dear Parrots magazine,
On a Wing and a Prayer
I would like to thank Richard Strudwick and his partner, Maria Bunina, for their story about free-flying parrots.
I really enjoyed reading about their journey in training their parrots to free-fly. It was inspirational.
I have some Blue and Gold Macaws and have allowed their wing feathers to grow out. They both reached adulthood without ever having learned how to fly. Like the authors of this story, I first started with recall training. One Macaw now takes short flights around the house and outside. She has never tried to escape or ‘run away’. However I don’t think she enjoys flying. Sometimes, when an opportunity to fly occurs, she crawls down to the floor to walk.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be free-flying my birds in a large open field, like the authors of this story, but I will certainly continue taking them out, on their harness, to discover and participate in the outdoor world, like a “real” bird.
Caroline, by email