Clipping pros and cons

[parrotntn]

Below is an article that Pamela Clark, renowned parrot behaviorist has graciously shared with us on the pros and cons of wing clipping. Although I have broken it into several pieces as replies, it is posted in it's entirety.
Preceding the article is a bio that Pam sent along with it. Please read it as well. With the bio is an announcement of an interactive telecourse she will be offering March 30th. As soon as it is announced on the website, I will post a link for you to sign up. It should be a great learning experience for us bird owners.
I hope that this helps us all make a more informed decision when it comes to clipping our feathered companions.
On behalf of BirdBoard.com, we and our birds thank you Pam.

Mark
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Biography for Pamela Clark
Updated 1.20.08

Pamela Clark is a well-known author, speaker and certified parrot behavior consultant. Her knowledge extends to a wide range of parrot species, and has been gained through experiences as diverse as breeding to rescue and rehabilitation. Pam has also trained parrots in behaviors as complex as that of free flight outdoors.
Pam’s approach when dealing with behavior problems is two-fold. She seeks to provide increased environmental enrichment and excellent nutrition, while using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis to resolve behavior problems. She evaluates each aspect of the parrot’s existence, including nutrition, environment, and social relationships, recommending improvements using the most positive, least intrusive methods to insure improvement.
Pam lives in Salem, Oregon with a mixed flock of 10 companion parrots, one dog and two cats. In addition to her behavior consulting, writing and lecturing, she works as a veterinary technician for an avian specialist. Her articles have appeared in the Companion Parrot Quarterly, Bird Talk magazine, Birds USA, Parrots magazine, and the Holistic Bird Newsletter, and have been translated into several foreign languages.

Pamela Clark, CPBC
Salem, Oregon
(503) 606-0235
clark.exotics@thegrid.net
Pamela Clark
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Pamela Clark will be teaching an interactive telecourse on this topic on March 30, 2008. During this hour and a half presentation, titled "Companion Parrots - Should We Clip Those Wings, Or Not?" she will lead participants to examine the pros and cons of both clipping flight feathers and allowing flight in companion parrots, so that they are better able to make this choice with their own parrots. Those interested can find more information and enroll in the telecourse by going to Raising Canine. For those who are unable to attend, the presentation with taped audio will be available after the presentation for purchase as well.
Copyright Pamela Clark October 2002. All rights reserved. Parts or whole may not be reprinted without express written permission of the author. This article originally appeared in the Holistic Bird Newsletter at holisticbird.com. Revised January 2008.
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The article

Feathered Companions…the Ultimate Dilemma
By Pamela Clark

Feathers and flight have fascinated man for thousands of years. In the first fifteen volumes of his Natural History, printed between 1749 and 1767, the Count of Buffon traces parrot keeping back to the time of Aristotle. Never, however, has it been as easy or popular to own a parrot as it is today. The advent of breeding and rearing practices, such as hand feeding, has increased their numbers in captivity dramatically. This new availability has only fanned our enthusiasm and fascination at the thought of having a feathered creature close at hand.
However, it is those feathers…the very things that fascinate us…that also frustrate us, since they bring us squarely at some point into having to make a decision. Do I clip this bird’s wings, or not? Prevailing attitudes, with which I will deal in a moment, are strongly held and divide parrot owners into two opposing camps. The individual parrot owner, however, often carries on an internal, more private, struggle over this issue. Having been advised to have the wings clipped, the parrot keeper is often reluctant to do so. Something about it just goes against the grain of our thinking. For others, the choice is a clear one and wings are clipped without a second thought.
I will assert that taking flight away from a bird is a choice that should be well considered and done with care, expertise and ultimate respect for the bird’s experience and how this will impact her. Hopefully, this article will make such a choice easier and more clearly defined for those who find themselves facing it.

Prevailing Attitudes toward Wing Clipping and Flightedness

At this point in time, parrot owners in the United States routinely clip their birds’ wings in order to prevent or limit flight. While I have not been there to see for myself, my understanding is that many parrot owners in European countries do not, and that this practice is believed tantamount to abuse by some. This fact alone allows us to understand that the practice of keeping the flight feathers trimmed may not be always as necessary as many believe it to be.
The subject of wing-clipping often elicits strongly held opinions from parrot owners, veterinarians, and behavior consultants alike. They typically offer polarized opinions towards flight: they would never clip their parrots’ wings, or they condemn as negligent those who allow flight, proclaiming that all parrots should be clipped. While I too have my own biases, I will attempt in this article to take a balanced look at issues related to the flight of birds when kept in captivity, and at the pro’s and con’s of both keeping parrots clipped and of keeping them flighted.
First, however, let’s take a look at some facts related to the flight of birds. If we are going to deprive a parrot of flight, we should do so with full recognition of what it is we are doing.



Facts Regarding Feathers and Flight

Birds are the only living creatures with feathers. Given that fact, even those readers without familiarity with parrots might assume that feathers and flight would be of critical, primary importance to the life experience of any bird. In The Lives of Birds by Lester L. Short, the author remarks, “…everything about a bird’s physical structure, and indeed much of its physiology, is affected to some degree by the constraints of flight.” We could take Mr. Short’s observations one step further to very rightly state that everything about a bird is affected by its need to fly, including its emotional make-up. A bird is flight, and to ignore this in our parrot keeping practices is to do them an injustice.
I bred African Grey parrots for many years, and allowed each year’s babies to fly for a longer and longer period of time each year before clipping them. This experience allowed me to see clearly the very adverse impact clipping after fledging could have on some individuals, especially if they had been allowed a period of flight longer than four weeks. Eventually, I quit clipping babies entirely, successfully sending them to new homes fully flighted and trained to come on cue. Through this process, I was able to recognize that flight allows parrots to fully negotiate and actualize their social relationships. They even use flight to communicate with each other.
Feathers come in several different forms. Smooth ones cover the body, fluffy ones provide warmth and insulation, and long, stiff feathers provide support for flight. An average-sized bird has several thousand feathers, which grow in feather tracts, with patches of bare skin in between. The flight feathers have a central, spongy shaft, making the feather lighter and more flexible for flight. Barbs extend outward, slanting diagonally from either side of the feather shaft. You can easily pull these barbs apart, then by pressing above and below the separation, zip them together again, the same way the bird does while preening. From each side of the barb grow hundreds of barbules that overlap each other. Minute hooks on the barbules lock the branches together. The “construction” of even a single feather is exquisitely complex.
Feathers have many advantages. They are light and are replaced regularly when worn or lost. Each feather is individually attached to a muscle, which allows for greater maneuverability. Feathers enable birds to fly thousands of miles a year, to fly at speeds of 100 miles an hour, to hover and fly backwards, and to fly for days at a stretch without stopping.
The bird’s skeleton has evolved in such a way as to keep flying weight to a minimum. The skull of most birds is paper thin. Many have hollow bones, which are filled with air sacs for increased buoyancy. A frigate bird, whose wing span is seven feet wide, has a skeleton that weighs only four ounces, less than the weight of its feathers.
Other organs have evolved in such a way as to make flight easier as well. The heart has become enlarged to include four chambers in most birds, in order to be able to remove impurities from the blood more quickly. In avian “lungs,” air is pumped through a system of air sacs that branch off the lungs to occupy much of the bird’s body. These air sacs act as bellows. In some species, this system of air sacs extends even down into the legs. In fact, in 1758, an English surgeon showed that a bird could still breathe if you completely blocked his windpipe, but made a small hole from the outside into a wing or leg bone.
(please see next reply for more)

[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.

[parrotntn]

Consequences of Wing Clipping

Ironically, the first advantage mentioned above – that of insuring that the parrot can not fly away, is not always the advantage it appears. Owners of parrots with clipped wings often become complacent about the fact that they live with a bird whose instinct is to fly when startled. Since the clipped bird doesn’t fly, owners are not prompted to seek out knowledge about feathers and flight, since this is a “non-issue” for them. They often don’t understand how and when molting occurs. The parrot is not taught to allow a close examination of her wings so that it can be ascertained how many flight feathers might have grown out and when they might need to be clipped again. And, they don’t understand how either a slight breeze or two extra flight feathers might increase flight capability. Tragically, this often results in the loss of the bird when the complacent owner takes the parrot outdoors without harness or carrier. If a clipped parrot has grown out a couple of flight feathers on each side, is startled by something while riding on the owner’s shoulder, and encounters a slight breeze, she can travel quite a long way and be lost for good.
A second disadvantage has yet to be proven. If we remember back to the information gathered by scientists about the relationship between flying and breathing, it is possible that the overall health of the respiratory system may be compromised if the bird is never allowed to fly. I believe it possible that life span may be shortened, or the parrot may fall victim to respiratory illness, when she is denied the form of exercise she evolved to enjoy daily. Again, there is no evidence currently for this, but there is extensive evidence for the benefits of exercise in other species.
There are some very fundamental and measurable physiological changes that take place in the body during exercise. As aviculturist Gloria Scholbe explained it so well in a message sent to the Holistic Bird Internet Discussion List, “Wild birds exercise their muscles on a regular basis as they forage for food. In addition to getting them to where they are going and obtaining fuel for the body's needs, exercise benefits the body in other ways.”
”Improvements created by exercise begin at the cellular level. Deep inside each cell are mitochondria. These cellular elements produce energy. As the body expends energy through exercise, the body signals its need for more energy, so numbers of mitochondria increase to meet that need. The number of capillaries also increases when the body signals its need for more oxygen.”
”Each muscle that is worked during activity becomes stronger because of the work it is asked to do. Body systems that support the muscles are also affected by the muscle's work. The heart becomes stronger, and blood vessels increase in number and in strength. The nervous system increases in efficiency. The lungs and respiratory system dislodge bacteria and improve the work of oxygen exchange. Bones, which support the muscles,
increase in density. All around, the physical body is strengthened through exercise, but the benefits don't end with the physical body. There are emotional benefits too.”
”Sustained exercise results in feelings of overall well-being. This is partly because exercise stimulates the brain to secrete endorphins and other chemicals that help to reduce pain and lift depression. Exercise reduces tension and helps to dissipate the damaging chemicals produced as a response to the 'fight or flight' reaction.”
A third, often devastating consequence, of wing clipping is the heavy reliance upon the groomer’s judgment, and the bad wing clips that frequently result. Many young African Greys and Poicephalus are started off on a life of fear and pain when clipped too severely as babies. This not only ruins their balance, but prevents them from gliding downward if they are startled. Instead, when startled, they drop like a rock, injuring their chests and keel bones, and leading to a constant feeling of anxiety and fear in the young bird. These too-short wing clips often are the beginning of a feather abuse problem, wherein the parrot either chews off the ends of the remaining flight feathers and any incoming, new flight feathers, or starts to barber or pull the chest feathers.
Brian Speer, DVM, in his lecture given to listeners at The Parrot Festival in Houston, Texas in January 2002 discussed this very problem. He stipulated that, under no circumstances, should flight be removed from a flighted parrot all at once, and that no more than between five to seven flight feathers should ever be removed from a bird.
A fourth disadvantage concerns only some species, in which the removal of flight ability can arouse significant feelings of vulnerability. This is true for some Red-tailed (Congo) African Greys, especially the more passive personalities among this species. There is great variation in “temperament” among African Grey individuals. Some are much shyer than others and seem to routinely experience more anxiety and fear over small things. This is reflected in frequent toenail biting, falling, high-pitched peeping vocalizations, and head twirling. For these individuals, clipping can result in increased behavior problems related to anxiety.
Lastly, there is a profound disadvantage to baby parrots in never being allowed to fledge and develop good flight skills prior to being clipped. When I was raising African Greys, each baby was fledged and flew for at least 4 weeks before any clipping was done. I have also taken in several older African Greys over the years, who had lost their homes for one reason or another. Thus, I have had ample opportunity to observe the personality differences between those birds I have reared, fledged and kept, and those individuals I rescued who never had the opportunity to fly. The difference is like night and day.
When a young bird fledges, he learns to think. He learns to act volitionally. He goes through a mental and physical process every time he takes a flight. He decides that he wants to move, where he wants to go, then must figure out how high and fast he must fly to get there, and when to stall and hover prior to landing. This is a complex series of thoughts and actions.
If a parrot does not learn to think and act volitionally as a fledgling, there is little chance that he will ever do so, even if his flight feathers are allowed to grow out. I have three rescued older African Greys here who, although fully flighted, will sit in one place all day if I do not move them. They never learned to act with volition. Even though they are physically able to fly, it does not occur to them to do so.
I do not think that every species has such a profound reaction to being clipped as a youngster, but we might imagine that there is not the full development of the personality that takes place if, as a young bird, the parrot learns that he can go places if he wants to, and learns the attendant flight skills that enable him to do so. Simply put, flight enables personality development and expression.
Next, a great many individuals whose wings are always kept clipped experience a decreased quality of life as a result. Quality of life is directly related to the number of choices an individual is able to make each day. A flighted parrot has freedom of movement and the ability to make a relatively large number of choices throughout each day. Since the activities of flight, which spur an owner on to creating an enriched environment, are absent in a clipped parrot, that bird make live an impoverished existence if the owner does not go to extra efforts to move the bird frequently to different, stimulating perching sites. The resulting pent-up energy the bird experiences may be channeled into screaming or other unwanted behaviors.
Lastly, the practice of keeping clipped parrots as a society has a more global impact on our understanding of parrot behavior. Much of the information currently in print about parrot behavior is not true at all. It is true of clipped parrots only. We really must ask ourselves, is the behavior exhibited by a clipped parrot really normal parrot behavior? Or, is it adaptive behavior that results from being unable to move freely at will?

[parrotntn]

… Reasons Given for Allowing Flight

The reasons most often stated for allowing flight in companion parrots are as follows:
• Flighted parrots enjoy better psychological and physical health.
• Young parrots are allowed to have a full fledging experience.
• Owners are usually more involved with their parrots.
• Flighted parrots with good flight skills are more easily recovered if lost outdoors.
• Flighted parrots are more fun to have around.

Flighted parrots may enjoy better physical health because of the increased exercise they get. Parrots are naturally busy creatures who move around often, and a companion parrot with good flight skills will move around the home at will often. Accordingly, increased quality of life results also because of the number of choices that bird is able to make throughout the day.
Young parrots who are able to fledge at the naturally appointed time develop into more confident and coordinated adult birds. For the young bird who is allowed to fledge and fly, even if clipped prior to going to his new home, there will be the joyful and enthusiastic expansion of personality that occurs during fledging, provided that the period of flight allowed is at least a few weeks in duration. They use their ability to fly when young as a vehicle for exploring the environment, as well as the social relationships available to them. Thus, they usually develop into more interesting parrot companions. The young parrot allowed flight will remain forever a more athletic creature, and a more enjoyable one to have around, at that. They are also spared the fear and anxiety that some individuals demonstrate after a bad wing trim.
People who live with flighted parrots are usually more involved with their birds, because of the need to train. An untrained but flighted bird will sooner or later become a problem. Owners of flighted birds must become skilled at using positive reinforcement to train their birds to come when called, leave an area when asked, step up when asked, and to go back into the cage when needed. I regard clipping and training as two sides to the same coin. We must either clip wings or train, in order to get acceptable behavior from our birds. This training of flight cues is not difficult to do with a bird, and is a lot of fun for both owner and parrot.
If ever lost outdoors, the flighted parrot is more likely to have both the stamina and the flight skills to fly back down to the owner when found. Owners of flighted parrots must plan for the day when the parrot does get lost by acclimating the parrot to the outdoors through the frequent use of an outdoor aviary, by teaching the parrot to come when called, and by making sure the bird gets enough flight experience to be able to easily fly upward, fly downward, hover in the air and fly distances. IF these measures are taken, there is a good chance that, if lost outdoors, the bird will stay in the vicinity of the home and fly down to the owner when called.
Lastly, many of use believe that flighted birds are more fun to have as companions. They are so much better able to reveal their personalities through movement of choice. I am tremendously gratified when my parrots choose to fly to me when I ask them to. Through this experience, I am insured that they experience me as a kind and worthy caregiver. They do not step up for me because I bully them into it, but because they want to. They have the choice to fly away instead. If our goal as humans is to take a kinder, gentler approach to all of life, this is a good way to begin.
There comes with keeping a flighted parrot a true appreciation for the keen intelligence and magical whimsy so frequently displayed by the flighted spirit. By always keeping the birds in our midst clipped, I believe that we blind ourselves to the view and appreciation of the parrot as a flighted entity.

Consequences of Allowing Flight

A significant disadvantage is the to-some-degree unavoidable harm which comes to household items when flighted parrots are allowed exploration of the premises. Parrots are playful and they enjoy figuring out how things work. When I was living in California, my African Grey Marko had two favorite activities. She would fly to my pot rack in the kitchen while I was working out there, then throw the lighter pots and pans down onto the stove. When I would leave the room and she grew bored, she found it fun to push down the spigot on the large bottle of purified water that we kept on the counter for drinking, watching as the water flowed down and splashed onto the floor. While I was willing to tolerate these minor annoyances, another person might find this type of parrot “fun” intolerable.
The primary cause of harm to household items comes, of course, from chewing. I recently moved to another home here in Oregon and spent several thousand dollars restoring woodwork and flooring before moving. To some of us, this will be unacceptable.
Flighted parrots are able to move about at will, and thus distribute the mess they create over a much larger area. This requires, if we are committed to keeping them flighted, that we creatively set up areas for perching that are more attractive to the parrot than our own possessions and furniture might be. Then, we must provide instruction about where she can perch, and where she should not perch. This requires time, effort, patience and a certain amount of expense. Flightedness is of no advantage to the parrot who is always kept locked in a cage in order to prevent his getting into trouble. He is better off able to climb around his cage and alternate perching sites.
Next, those of us who live with flighted parrots must dedicate ourselves to teaching them to cooperate with us, both in terms of allowing handling and in leaving our own possessions alone. This training requires a commitment of time and energy. It requires also that we see ourselves in a different perspective, in relation to our parrots. Although this may be an inconvenient truth to face, many of us have parrots in order to meet our own emotional needs. We want them to make us feel loved. When we step into the role of teacher and trainer, the dynamic of the relationship shifts as we recognize our primary responsibility to teach them and keep them safe.
When keeping a flighted parrot, we must go about our days in a very conscious manner, in order to prevent an accidental escape. Owners of flighted parrots need to be alert and aware of potential losses. Our parrots do not want to escape or fly away from home, but losses occur when they try to join us as we leave the house. Or, the parrot sees the owner outdoors and attempts to fly to the owner through an open door. Therefore, we must arrange our entrances and exits from the house so that this can not happen. This involves setting up a double entrance in many cases. And, of course, doors can not be left open.
Likewise, constant vigilance is necessary to prevent accidents and injures to the flighted parrot. Much has been written about the dangers that exist in the home to flighted parrots. Often, these are not in reality true dangers. A parrot with good flight skills who has been allowed to explore the home is not going to fly into a window. Parrots are “learning machines,” quite capable of learning about windows and other household hazards.
There are, however, some real dangers. As mentioned earlier, serious injury or death can occur when a flighted parrot chooses to perch atop an open door…and someone closes the door quickly. In some cases, death comes when a transparent partition is closed, never having been closed previously. In one instance, the home had a sliding glass door that separated two rooms. This door was always open. The African Grey had long been flighted and enjoyed a routine pattern of flight in the house for exercise. One day, someone closed the door. While baby parrots, that are just fledging, do not as a rule have the muscle development that allows them to injure or kills themselves when running into windows, a fully flighted parrot in good shape can certainly kill himself flying into such a partition, just as wild birds do when flying into windows.
Anyone who elects to keep flighted parrots can not be absent-minded. They must maintain an awareness of the parrot’s location in the home at all times, travel through doorways carefully, and think through any actions likely to impact the flighted bird. For instance, the operation of a ceiling fan can mean the death of the flighted parrot, if the owner absentmindedly turns it on without thinking of the ramifications.
Next, depending upon the personality and history of the parrot in question, flightedness can lead to increased aggression that is directly related to territoriality. Some parrots will, at some times of the year when hormone production is at its highest, fly and attack family members or other parrots in the household. In these cases, the best solution may be to do a partial wing clip and then increase training efforts.
Conversely, parrots of a dependent nature may use the ability to fly to remain perennially on their owners’ shoulder. This becomes inconvenient, and sooner or later necessitates that the parrot also be taught to play independently.
Last, a disadvantage of major proportions is the difficulty of finding alternative care for the flighted birds when you must leave town. There are few care-givers who are knowledgeable enough to be able to handle a flighted parrot, and the option of leaving the bird in its cage throughout the owner’s entire absence is not usually an acceptable one.

(please see reply for more)

[parrotntn]

…..Making the Decision

Making the decision to clip wings or to allow flight can be a very difficult one for us as caregivers. It is difficult because, on a very fundamental level, feathers and flight fascinate us. There is magic to a creature who can fly. Further, on some level, clipping flight feathers is uncomfortable for us. Even as we are convinced of the necessity to do so, we harbor secret regret and discomfort about removing flight from a creature whose birthright it is to fly as its primary means of locomotion. And, it is a difficult decision because, as we have seen, the consequences of each choice can be heavy ones.
Therefore, in making the decision, careful consideration must be given to all aspects and all projected consequences of each choice. Many questions must be asked about the home, the family and the parrot before a well-reasoned and wise choice can be made. When owners take the time to do such a thorough analysis, the choice can be made with confidence. If we decide to clip those flight feathers, we may regret the need, but we will rest confidently in the knowledge that the choice is the right one, because the other has been thoroughly researched and found impossible. If we decide to allow flight, our commitment to this will be complete and this will serve us well as we go to all the work involved in doing so.
In order to make the best decision, we must set the romance aside and critically examine the options. Each parrot (and the decision to leave him flighted or to clip wings) is a study of one. Each parrot, each home, and each owner must be assessed, posing questions such as those below.

Assessing the Home

If allowing flight seems like a good idea, assess the home as a starting point:
• Can you secure it? Can you arrange your entrances and exits in such a way that the parrot can not be lost, if he chooses to fly to you?
• Are all family members reliable, in terms of keeping doors shut?
• Is there room for an outdoor aviary, in which the parrot can be acclimated to the outdoors? Is there a way to then transport him safely to and from it?
• Is the home large enough that the parrot can develop really good flight skills?
• Are there places in each room where you can put hanging perches so that the parrot will have designated and enriching spots to spend time?
• Are there any animals in the home who might be a danger to a flighted parrot?

Assessing the Parrot
Not every parrot is a good candidate for flight. Now that we have removed them from nature and raised them in ways unnatural to the species, the allowance of flight is not always possible. We must assess the parrot, as well as the home:
• Will he step up readily? Is he a compliant and cooperative parrot now? If not, it will be better to increase training efforts, using positive reinforcement, to gain better compliance before allowing flight.
• Is he aggressive at times? If so, aggression will likely increase if flight is granted.
• How old is he? Many older parrots, if they have not learned to fly before the age of 8, have no real interesting in doing so. A parrot with the capability to fly, but no real flight skills is in real danger.
• Has he ever flown? A parrot who has flown before will learn to fly again much more easily.
• Does he lack confidence? This may be a good reason to allow flight, since the ability to fly generally causes a parrot to feel safe in the world. He knows he can get away, should danger be present.

Assessing Ourselves

As much as we might like to think that we are good candidates for living with a flighted parrot, not all of us are. We must honestly assess ourselves, as well.
• Does training interest me?
• Do I have the time to train?
• Will I learn to train?
• Can I tolerate some destruction of household items?
• Am I willing to hang perches from the ceiling and otherwise create multiple perching sites?
• Am I absent-minded?
• Am I willing to purchase an outdoor aviary?
• Is this important enough to me that I can be hugely inconvenienced?
As you ask yourself these questions and try to come to some honest assessment of yourself, your parrot and your household, try to consult with someone who has already successfully kept flighted parrots for some time in their home and knows how to do it.


Keeping the Clipped Parrot

The decision to clip a parrot should be freely made, and based upon a careful assessment as that above, rather than imposed by present social customs. Each parrot is an individual, as is each owner, and while there are some who believe that all parrots should be flighted, this is not realistic. In some cases, in homes where small children are likely to leave doors open, one of the residents tends to be absent minded, or the parrot is very territorial, it may be a very good decision to keep the companion parrot’s wings clipped.
If we do choose to keep our parrots clipped, then is it imperative that we take responsibility for doing so. We must learn about the process of molting, and teach the parrot to allow an examination of his wings so that we can tell when flight feathers have grown out and he needs grooming again.
We should either learn to clip the parrot ourselves, or be prepared to act assertively with the groomer and specify the number of flight feathers that should be removed, in order to prevent a bad wing clip. In order to do so, we must know first what constitutes a good wing trim. Both wings should be trimmed an equal amount, and only to the extent that the parrot can glide downward over 8 to 10 feet. Flight feathers should be trimmed from the leading edge inward. Heavy-bodied parrots (those with short tails) like Amazons, often need only the first five or six flight feathers clipped. Light-bodied parrots (those with long tails) like cockatiels may need the first 10 primary feathers trimmed.
When looking for a groomer, we should interview the person carefully, asking questions about how the trimming will be done. If not satisfied with the answers, we should seek help elsewhere. Wing trimming should not be done by amateurs or those without much experience. Wing trims should be done carefully and conservatively. You can not put feathers back after they have been cut off. The parrot can be given a very conservative wing trim, and then be flight tested. If needed, more can then be removed.
Realize that, even though the parrot can not move around to different perching spots at will, he still has the need for a varied and interesting experience. Provide an enriching place to perch in each room, and move him yourself often to accompany you or just to give him a different view of the same room.
Provide lots of enrichment, in terms of things to investigate and destroy. This will also increase his ability to make choices and stay busy with interesting activities. Teach flapping exercises so that he can still get the exercise he needs to have good physical and psychological health.
Treat him as if he is flighted, in terms of insuring his safety. Even clipped parrots can fly away if there is enough breeze and a bit of adrenaline behind a startled flight. Don’t take him outdoors on your shoulder or put him on perches or in trees. Give him a safe enclosure in which to enjoy the outdoors.
Train him anyway. Teaching a parrot to do some simple tricks will contribute hugely to his quality of life. Parrots, like all animals, love to learn. Fundamentally, training is simply the process of offering choices and rewarding the desired ones. The more choices, the greater the quality of life. A valuable resource for those hoping to get started using positive reinforcement to train a parrot is Good Bird Magazine, edited by Barbara Heidenreich, available at Good Bird Inc. Companion Parrot Training Through Positive Reinforcement. Also available from the same source are some DVDs that demonstrate this type of training and will help both the novice and the experienced trainer.
Clicker training is another type of positive reinforcement training. There are some good Internet sites to help you get started with this type of training. My favorite of these is Clicking with Birds.
(please see reply for more)

[parrotntn]

Keeping the Flighted Parrot

Without question, the owner of the flighted parrot must “step up to the plate” and learn the training skills that will serve to keep the parrot safe and compliant. There is the chance that one day the flighted parrot will go through the doorway after the owner and become lost. Whether or not retrieval is successful may well depend upon whether the parrot has been taught the recall (to come when called), has become conditioned to respond to a contact call, and knows how to fly downward.
Another benefit of training will be a parrot who, even though he can fly away, will instead do what you ask of him. Flighted parrots must be taught to come when called, to step up when asked, to leave areas where they should not be, to allow bathing, to go into a carrier, to back into the cage when asked, and otherwise cooperate with us as we care for them. Simple and frequently-cued behaviors, such as stepping up, flying to us and going back into the cage should receive positive reinforcement every time they are performed. While our attention and praise may serve as reinforcement some times, it is best to use a highly-valued small food treat for this purpose. Doing so will achieve the most consistent and reliable response.
Keeping flighted parrots successfully requires a lot more knowledge, skill and effort than does living with clipped parrots. Therefore, it is important to learn all we can about flight itself and the ways to keep flighted parrots successfully. One resource for doing so is the Freeflight Internet Discussion list, found at Yahoo Groups. This discussion list has been in existence for several years and tends to fluctuate in its quality, depending upon the participants. However, it is well worth investigating. If you do so, remember to read posts with your critical thinking skills well in place. Those who participate in these discussion lists will vary widely in their experience with parrots. Those interested can subscribe at this link: Freeflight-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Another place to learn about flight is Cockatoo Downs in Oregon. Trainer Chris Shank holds an annual conference for those interested in flight. This is the FlyAbout Flight School and will be held in 2008 on the weekend of May 24 and 25. The first day will be dedicated to keeping flighted parrots in the home. The second day will provide information regarding allowing free flight outdoors. Those interested can find more information at her website: FlyAbout2008.
Next, owners of flighted parrots must become familiar with recovery strategies. They must plan for the day the parrot does escape. Such planning will help to insure that the parrot is found and returned home again. Information on such strategies is not within the scope of this article. However, this information is available from the Freeflight List and various other Internet sites. Readers may simply Google “what to do if a parrot escapes.”
Owners of flighted parrots will also help to insure recovery if an outdoor aviary is provided and the parrot is allowed regularly to spend time out in it. This allows the parrot to become familiar with the sights and sounds of the neighborhood. This decreases the likelihood that the parrot will be startled by normal neighborhood sounds and fly further away. Parrots familiar with these sounds are more likely to stay near the home.
When keeping a flighted parrot, it is necessary for the owner to live differently, to train himself to remain aware of any possible dangers to the flighted bird. This may involve foregoing use of a ceiling fan, installing double doorways to prevent loss, taking shorter vacations, and training oneself to remain mindful of the parrot’s whereabouts when out of the cage. He must also be willing to creatively provide alternate perching spots in each room and maintain these so that the parrot has acceptable places to perch when moving around the home.

Summary

My goal has been to provide an unbiased discussion of two choices each parrot owner must face. Do I clip this parrot’s wings or do I allow him to be fully flighted in my home? Perhaps, in retrospect, this analysis has not been so unbiased. The astute reader can not help but pick up on my enthusiasm for keeping my own birds flighted. In the beginning of my parrot keeping career, I kept my birds clipped, having been led to believe that this is what the responsible parrot owner does. Once I began breeding, and realized the benefits of fledging to the babies, I had a new awareness of the benefits of flight for all birds. Gradually, as my own knowledge and skill has grown, each of my parrots has become flighted…and safely so. I would never choose to go backwards in this progression of philosophy and practice. In fact, observation of their delight in flying humbles me. Who am I to remove this most significant and defining of abilities?
However, never would I state that my choice is the right one for all parrot owners. Each owner should feel free to carefully examine both sides of the issue to determine which choice may be the right one for him and his birds. No matter what choice is made, to keep the parrot clipped or allow flight, the crucial thing is to always bear in mind that you have in your hands a flighted spirit. Honor that fact, and if you’re going to deny flight, do so kindly and in full consideration of the import of the action.

Short, Lester L. The Lives of Birds. New York, NY: Henry Holt & Co., 1993
Edited by Poole, Robert M. The Wonder of Birds .Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1083.
Ibid.
The Gift of Birds. National Wildlife Federation, 1979.
Page, Jake and Morton, Eugene S. Lords of the Air: The Smithsonian Book of Birds. New York: Smithsonian Institution. 1989
Ibid.
Weidensaul, Scott. Living On the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds. New York: North Point Press. 1999
Ibid.
Perrins, Christopher. Birds: Their Life, Their Ways, Their World. New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1976.