[parrotntn]

The fusion of various bones in the skeleton has also resulted in decreased overall weight, and in some cases more flexibility. The bones of the clavicles have fused into the “wishbone” or furcula. Scientists have been able to view, with high-speed x-ray movies, the flight of a starling in a wind tunnel. They observed that the furcula opens and closes with each wing beat, acting as a sort of spring. This appears to assist the bird in breathing, pumping air throughout the respiratory system.
One of the most important functions of flight is that of migration. Even tropical birds, who are not subjected to the extremes of weather, move with the seasonal rains and droughts, often across hundreds of miles. Certain examples of migratory flight almost defy belief. Some shorebirds fly non-stop from South America to the coast of New Jersey. This flight takes ten days to complete, a total of 240 hours of uninterrupted flight. The motivating force behind migration is about finding food, rather than avoiding severe temperatures. In reporting the migratory efforts of the short-tailed shearwater, a bird that covers over 18,000 miles in a single year, Weidensaul comments, “Migrations like this leave us staggered; we are such stodgy, rooted creatures. To think of crossing thousands of miles under our own power is as incomprehensible as jumping to the moon. Yet even the tiniest of birds perform such miracles.”
During flight, a number of flight skills are demonstrated. The bird must be able to gain lift. Three factors affect lift: the surface area of the wing, the wind speed, and the angle at which the wing is held. Gliding is another important skill for a flying bird. A bird will stop beating its wings, and thus begin to glide. This results in a loss of speed, which enables the bird to land. Gliding and hovering are necessary to landing. Powered flight requires more energy, and is achieved when the pectoral muscles drive the wing downwards. Birds must also be able to steer themselves once in the air. They can do this solely through the use of the wings. This is achieved by altering the angle or shape of one wing.
Aside from the importance it has to birds, flight has carried significance for humans since time began. As Jack Page and Eugene Morton write in Lords of the Air, “We humans appear always to have been on the lookout for ways to understand ourselves and our world, and for most of our tenure here, we have rarely looked at any bird – say, a crow – and simply seen a crow…. In the first place, crows and most other birds fly, and flight has meaning. The crow is black, and black means something. Feathers mean something, as do the eggs from which the crow is born. For most people throughout time, these meanings have been as real as the bird itself, and perhaps more so, since the meanings were taken to be universal and eternal. Flight means space, light, thought, imagination.”
Among the early Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, the bird came to signify the human soul. In ancient Egypt, the feather was one of the hieroglyphic elements that spelled such words as lightness and height. Wings have been seen as analogous to spirituality. To the Greeks, they also signified love and victory.
While these are only a few of the fascinating facts related to bird flight, they underscore two major points. First, every physical feature of the bird has evolved to facilitate flight. Second, much of our fascination with birds is because they can fly.



Attitudes toward Companion Parrots and Flight

As mentioned previously, it has long been held as strong opinion in the United States that all companion parrots must have their wings clipped in order to insure their safety. This routine practice has led also to the rarely-questioned practice of clipping the flight feathers of baby parrots before they have a chance to take their first flight. It is assumed that, if the flight feathers are clipped for the purpose of removing flight, then the bird can not fly away and become lost. Clipped wings also make an adult parrot easier to handle and less “feisty” as a rule.
More recently, however, there has been a growing interest in allowing companion parrots flight in the home. There is an Internet discussion list called the Freeflight List, which provides information for people who not only allow their parrots flight in the home, but outdoors as well. Chris Shank of Cockatoo Downs Aviary hosts a popular annual conference called the Fly About in Oregon, where those who attend learn about keeping flighted parrots. And, perhaps most telling to me is the fact that many clients who contact me these days, are interested in exploring this issue with their own parrots.
Thus, I believe that we are now at a crossroads, in terms of our practices regarding the clipping of our parrots’ wings, and that it is time to closely scrutinize and review our thinking on this issue. There are advantages and disadvantages to both keeping parrots clipped and to keeping them flighted. The well-informed parrot owner should be cognizant of all of these, in order to be able to make an informed choice for his own birds. Whether we choose to clip our parrots, or allow them flight, we must take the responsibility for the fact that we are keeping a flighted spirit in our home.

Reasons Given for Wing Clipping

The reasons most-often given for recommending wing clipping are the following:
• Safety (fewer accidents in the home and the parrot can’t fly away and become lost)
• Clipped parrots are more easily handled and better behaved.
• Less destruction of household items
• Less mess
• Clipped parrots may enjoy more time out of the cage and more time out of the house
A parrot that is flighted will learn the fun of going places, and may wind up in spots where accidents are more likely to happen. Flighted parrots enjoy perching on top of doors, and injuries occur when someone shuts the door without looking up first. Startled parrots without good flight skills may fly into windows. Smaller flighted parrots can fly into water in the bathroom or kitchen and drown. And, flighted parrots are sometimes lost outdoors. Thus, keeping a parrot’s flight feathers clipped is seen by some as the best way to insure that parrot’s safety.
Some flighted parrots are more difficult to handle, than they would be if clipped. If not well trained, they will simply fly away when an attempt is made to handle them or introduce them to new experiences. Further, some parrots are more aggressive when flighted, at least until they are better trained.
Flighted parrots generally have increased access to household possessions. Parrots in the wild spend much of their time tearing apart plant life, and this is an instinctive behavior. Flighted parrots can go where they want, finding access to the owner’s possessions more easily than might a clipped parrot. Thus, owners of clipped parrots are often better able to prevent destruction of household property.
Parrots are notoriously messy. If a parrot has his wings clipped, then the mess is at least confined to the areas where the parrot perches. Flighted parrots are able to distribute the mess over the entire household.
Given that, keeping a flighted parrot successfully requires that the owner both set up the environment in such a way that the parrot is encouraged to stay in his own areas, and actively pursue training with the bird. If the owner lacks the knowledge to do those things, then the parrot may wind up spending more time in his cage than might a clipped parrot. Thus, another advantage to keeping the wings clipped is that the parrot may enjoy more time out of his cage safely.
A last advantage involves the relative ease the owner has in taking his parrot places. It is much easier to take a parrot to visit a friend or on a trip to the hardware store if his wings are clipped. A flighted parrot must be controlled in some way, either by wearing a harness or riding in a carrier when going places.