How To Do Free Flight Outside

Extracts of further postings elsewhere that should go into this thread here as well.

But unfortunately, deep down must remain deep down. Or it will be too easy to allow that to bubble up and used to rationallise things that otherwise be too difficult to rationalise.

I know that from time to time, I said things from the heart. Otherwise how else to explain the companionship of the bird outdoors (primarily Tinkerbell from before the crack of dawn to dusk )


Plagiarised unashamedly from Tinkerbell Legacy - Living with a flying parrot - Harness for flighted parrots - To Nick and folks

http://shanlung.livejournal.com/8284.html


We travelled high and low, far and wide after that. You can read and see the photos made of a small fraction of the trips we made. We were out almost every weekends. Tinkerbell was taken to fly from low down to me high up on a hill. She flew from up above to me several floors below. She flew in the mountains and forests. We went for walks to look at the stars and fireflies at night. She flew in winds near typhoon force. She flew in gusty shifty winds. She was out from me at over 70 meters when a rainstorm suddenly hit. I gave the recall and she flew back in the rain.


In the temple grounds to parks to seaside to meadows. She flew in a freedom that you can only get a glimpse of from my reports.


She developed confidence and poise from outings to outings. I smiled when I read about how easily greys are spooked by even addition of a new chair in the house, or the colour of a new shirt. I mentally contrast that to the thousands of new people she met in her travels and the new hotel rooms that she was introduced to almost every weekend.


At first she flew to me on recall only in straight line. Then she varied it as her strength and confidence grew. Her best flights were never captured by my camera. She may fly to me, than soar in a twisting flight upwards to circle around, then fly in a big circle and weaved down to me. The memory of my camera ran out as we tried to capture those long flights. A shadow of that beauty exist only in my words of those reports as I tried by best to describe what could not be photographed.


Lifted without qualms from Tinkerbell Legacy - Living with a flying parrot - Tinkerbell - Bantienyen In Retrospect

http://shanlung.livejournal.com/73232.html


And even with all that, no absolute guarantees can be given.


So what did we get for all those risks and dangers?


I gained the pleasure of having her with me in all those beautiful places which my photos and my wife photos never can do full justice to. And that I could only briefly tried to sketch out in words what we done there.


And what did she get from all the places she been to? I do not know.


We had been out walking on mountain trails from break of dawn to dusk. She saw to distant horizon in air made crystal clear with that touch of frost. She felt the rain and wind on her face. She saw butterflies by the thousands in migratory routes. Heard and seen other birds flying about. She saw with me the magic of fireflies pulsating all around us. Saw and heard the roars of giant ocean combers pounding the shore and the smell of salty kelpy seasprays. She saw thousands and thousands of people, and touched the lifes of those that stop and talked with us. I wanted for her a life more than just a life within the bars of a cage, or the walls of a house.


I do like to think that she gained something too, even if it was just happiness.


I never felt superior to those who felt they had to clip the wings of their charge as who am I to judge as I reckon they have to live in the constraints of their life and if that is done in full awareness of all the alternatives.


If those that felt superior to me and others who do free flights in the open, they should go and feel whatever that they want to feel.


We all are still part of the bird world , even if I do not have birds now or in the near future.
 
There is another side of the coin too. I had a call yesterday from a friend of childhood days. A couple months ago, I had another call from him. His CAG, with clipped wings, flew off.


And on a tree in his garden unable to come down. I shot off my primer on how to get lost birdie back to him

Search & recovery of your lost birdie .


I advise him over the phone to keep birdie in sight and do not drag ladder and stuff to scare her. Get stuff to encourage her to fly down and maintain 45 degree slope. A couple of hours, she flew down.


That call from him woke me up yesterday morning. Followed by a wanted poster to my XiaoMi WhatsApp of yet a different CAG. I took a cab over as I thought that CAG (with clipped wings) flew off that morning.


And then found out I did not read his wanted poster to have found she flew off on Saturday. Found in his house (or rather cage) a beautiful M2 or Pink2(Cacatua moluccensis) and that earlier CAG. Birdies are his son living with him, but loved by him and wife and daughter. I know well enough the traumatic pain of a loss of a birdie. If I was called on the same day, his chances of getting back the birdie would be that much better. Except he told me he felt so bad that day he dared not call me then. I told him his CAG is 99.9% in the hands of someone else who will not give him back. No point even to look.


I tried to impress on him how vital it was to have a flight room where proper interactions with birdie can proceed and go at least into recalls. My heart skipped a few beats when he took out the M2 that he told me was clipped. He was beautiful and willingly stood on my wrist. I much rather M2 be taken out into an environment where perimeters were all protected. I reckoned his house would be worth about $30 million at least so he was not short in pocket.


I accept that he love his birds and so do the rest of the family. But clipping of wings is not the best way of looking after the birdies. But I could not keep stressing that point and perhaps driving a fear into him that would force those birdies to remain rest of their lifes in little cages without interactions with those that love them.


Strange part is that what I write are read largely by you and folks of other countries and not by my own childhood friends. Unless with their toes hold to fire. Even childhood friends with birdies do not want to read what could have saved them a world of hurt.


Yet strangely, it is not the flight birds on free flights that you have seen that went missing. More often than not, those that go missing are birdies with clipped wings.


Like my friend's CAG that I went to help locate yesterday. I will dread the day when I received a call of a missing M2 from him.
 
I thought I add photos to show the birdies of my friend.


That CAG that flew off a couple months ago and that M2.


You see the cages located under a covered veranda which open out to the big blue yonder outside the house.


The more I know, the more I hurt.

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That made my heart sink to see the Grey in such a small cage - it's prison, know wonder it escaped when it could!

The M2 has a better size one.
 
The birds are very nice and lovely, BUT, that cage is really BAD for such a king parrot such as african grey...It is pity.

Tell your friend not put his/her birds in such small cages please, it is for the own good of the parrots :)
 
Just saw a Whatsapp note from my friend send to me yesterday but noticed only today.
Saw he got his grey back. Called him to get details that his son got the grey with clipped wings which flew up the 10 meter hill behind his house after circling behind the house to end up in neighbour property.
Yes! tell me again grey with clipped wings that cannot fly!

He was lucky he got that birdie back.
I took the opportunity to tell him to do himself and me a big favour by keeping the cages inside the house. That at least the birdies will not have direct access to the great blue yonder.
He told me he will consider that very seriously.

Sigh!!!!
 
Totally agree Shanlung!!

People need to realize clipping wings is no answer (as well as horrible for the bird) a large percentage of escapees are clipped, up in a gust of wind, and once free have very little chance of escaping danger :(
 
Totally agree Shanlung!!

People need to realize clipping wings is no answer (as well as horrible for the bird) a large percentage of escapees are clipped, up in a gust of wind, and once free have very little chance of escaping danger :(

I thought an old posting I did long time back still apply.  My old friend did not realised how lucky he was to get back his grey gone two times already. So his greys did

do free flights.

The birdies you saw truly free flying about in Taiwan were a lot safer than that kept by my old friend not cued even to step up on a perch.  You all might have noticed no toys and foot toys can be seen.

And I thought too agonising for me even to try to teach him as his attitude was that he knew a lot.  

He was surprised enough that his M2 step up readily on my hand that he probably  thought was a fluke.

He never thought of joining the many parrot forums where he might have seen a bit more of me and realised he knew that bit less than what he thought he knew.


Below is a letter I wrote in another forum just a few days ago (actually a long time back)  which I think has its place in this thread, to minimise the nightmarish time.


That was for a birdie Echo who flew away, and with a happy ending of being rescued.

I high lighted a line there.  That was highlighted before in bold, but I enlarged that font as well here.


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


The strange part is that the BULK of escaping birdies were birdies with clipped wings , not fully flighted birdies.


Even more strange is that more birdies are kept fully flighted now, at least from the polls I seen.


Surely, shouldn't it be the other way? That more birdies that are fully flighted be lost instead of birdies that are clipped forming the bulk of lost birdies?


It is not the scissors that prevent unwanted escapees.


More often than not, that lead to undeserved complacency.


Consider how my saga with Riamfada started.


She was clipped, and assymetrically clipped on just one wing. A clipping designed to cause imbalance to birdie and about the worse of clipping.


She flew away and landed in a garden with very high walls around it to be rescued by a lady. She looked and asked around the entire neighbourhood. She was a very determined lady walking about the neighbourhood to find whose grey it was.


So it was likely Riamfada flew into her garden from a much further place.


She then gave her to my care.


So not only Riam flew far away with clipped wings, but flew high enough to get over a high wall.


I guess as Riam was a wild caught, she retained enough of her flying knowledge to overcome those clipping done on her.


And as birdies have clipped wings, that would make it almost impossible for them to fly down.


Flying down is a lot lot lot more difficult than flying up. And as clipped birds probably had never been allowed to fly at all, they do not know how


to turn and fly in any controlled way by them. Flying up is about all they can do.


That is the reality.


Not what most folks love to think.


But strangely, folks who clipped birdies and never known of them flying seemed to know so much more about


flighted birdies than I do. And so fond of asking one and all to reach for those scissors to crunch off those feathers on the wings. 


Their one infallible solution to any and all problems.


It is ok for folks.


But its the lost birdies that will pay the price.


What chance have they got? Never knowing how to fly with control? Barely enough feathers to fly and no feathers for flight control?

Clipped birds lost outdoors will in almost all likelihood escaped with a death warrant tied to their clipped wings.


Do remember that whenever you reached for that scissors.


If Echo was clipped, instead of having all her feathers, Echo would not have been back and likely to have died instead. 


Flighted birds, and birds knowing flight, lost outdoors will survive a lot better than birds clipped. 


It is the knowledge and care and attention to details that keep your birdie safe with you.


Nothing else.


Think about it.


Go and clip and hope you beat the odds.


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


and a follow up letter from me which hopefully can help those with escaped birdies.


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Needless to say, I am so happy you got Echo back!


I will not, and never will, wish even the worse villian on Earth be him Hitler or Osama or my ex mother in law , that they lost a birdie, especially a grey.


The pain and anguish is so incredible and impossible to bear that it defied words and description.


Now that you got Echo back, can you ever recall the pain and depth of despair that you had when you first saw Echo winging off?


Its just not possible now. That pain was too great and utterly impossible for you to replicate in your heart now with Echo's return.


As for Echo on top of tree and not flying down to you, I believe that you missed what I wrote on getting a lost birdie back. If you had, you might have saved yourself quite a bit of pain and gotten Echo back earlier. It is too long and too detailed to copy and paste here.


You should read it, as you never know if you ever need it again. After all, Murphy is everywhere.

Search & recovery of your lost birdie

shanlung: Angkor Wat & stuff// Wife to say hi to Domdom and Riamfada// Search & recovery of your lost birdie


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Mike, the Daddie of Echo, agreed if he read that , and the 45 degree rule, he probably would have gotten Echo back a lot earlier instead of begging Echo directly under him on the branch.


But I do understand folks with a birdie up on a tree or building find it more gratifying to grovel and beg directly under the birdie to fly back, not realising that only a birdie


highly trained and experienced in flight can do a flight directly downwards.
 
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Hi folks,



I am still in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I got not thrown out for the colour of my tie. Because after the first day when I went in tie and suit, I wore jeans after that and not wear tie.



Not only peasants in Indonesia did free flights with peasant like folks in Taiwan without having to go to

self styled experts , who miraculously becoming experts after going to lectures by experts and therefore qualified to teach selected folks



Those people listen to their birds.



Enough said. This time in Thailand. Folks from all walks of life, and probably do not speak a word of English but talk with their birds like what I have been advocating.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/119300038



Enjoy the sight of those birdies flying about and returning to their care givers.
 
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Hello Shanlung yes I loved the video.  it is so wonderful to watch so many birds flying free and having the insight and knowing your bird will return.  To have such a wonderful gathering of people and their birds out in the open was outstanding and the bond the birds have for their carers.  When I saw the video my first thought was cables and I will never attempt to fly a bird near them,  but they flew well and had no problem avoiding them.  Well I hope all is well with you and your extended family.
 

To Shanlung - How to do Free Flight Outside


(Plagiarised from above part 1 of 2)

You know I do take part in several parrot forums. Sometimes I felt what I wrote to be useful and important to others and transferred that into my livejournal.

Such as this particular subject.

I had been asked recently at 2 different forums how to do total free flights outdoor.
The first was a French forum here.http://www.perroquet.biz/perrok_cafe/forum/phpbb/index.php/topic,11804.15.html

Shortly after that, I was asked by dna in a private message. I told her perhaps it would be better on the forum so others could read it.
Dna did that.


I have read a lot of your posts and am amazed at how wonderfully trained your lovely birds are. I may have missed a post or something, but I would love to know how you went about getting them to do that. I have several parrot friends and they are all very trusting of me. I would love have them be able to fly while outside, but I keep them clipped now because of a recent accident for a vet visit (except my Citron cockatoo due to being handicapped) and feel terrible about it. Any information would be most welcome!

I answered her using much of what I written in that French forum on this same subject.

Total free flight is very dangerous and I cannot recommend anyone to try that.
If you allow your bird to fly inside the house and the house secured properly, your bird
will have 95% of all the benefits from flying.
Part 2 - Tinkerbell Legacy that you can read in http://www.shanlung.com/ will tell you how that can be done

My photos and descriptions of free flights can be enjoyed by everyone.
I enjoy seeing people doing rock climbing, and skiing down black diamond slopes or BASE jumping .
But I know I do not have the training and the skill to do that.

In the same way, you can enjoy what I do without any risk to you in doing that. I could do what I have done maybe because I have a very strong bond, and understanding with beasties and birdies. How many do you know who could call his/her cat into the water by the ocean.

You might like to see
Buwah Free Flight 2 // Wadi Harban // Riamfada with Jabris again
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/111045.html



shanlung: Chile // Riamfada free flights at the edge of Rub Al Khali
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/112019.html



with photos of cat outside
Reflections on Riamfada at edge of the Empty Quarter and some rants
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/112576.html




bird & cat by the sea
9-11//Dommie final visit to ocean Ramadan 2010 & unsheduled Riamfada free flight//The Day Approaches
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/119935.html







Nothing is completely safe.

I am mentally prepared for the worse. Can you do that ?

First Tinkerbell, and then Riamfada was trained in harness and line in small steps by small steps before free flight.
They learned to fly in strong winds, in cross winds, in tail winds, in side winds, gusty winds, from high up to me down below, from down below to me high up above.

I did not just do recalls. I did very complex recalls. They fly to different perches with names in the order I called, and then fly back to me at home.
I hide in rooms and call them to do hide & seek recalls. That they fly to me out of sight and search for me.



 
To Shanlung - How to do Free Flight Outside

(Plagiarised from above part 2 of 2)


I watched them until I knew they do not spook easily, and knew they recover quickly from spooking.

And what about parroty jokes. Birdie loved to do macabre parroty jokes at the expense of your heart.

Even if not parroty jokes, can you cope with exuberance flight?
When your birdie flew high above you and then continued away to disappear at the distant horizon?



Riam did that to me not one, not twice, but three or four times. All in the course of 2-3 minutes in
Chile // Riamfada free flights at the edge of Rub Al Khali
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/112019.html

Can you remain calm all through that? Fear in your heart might well frightened your birdie so much your birdie might not come back.

The risk of accident is always there even with a well bonded and well trained bird. What if a hawk suddenly appear to chase your bird?
Read
Reflections on Riamfada at edge of the Empty Quarter and some rants
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/112576.html

The risk of accidents must be accepted so you will be mentally prepared to act fast and act immediately on recovery.
I think many people became frozen during accidents and end up losing their bird.

Read an accident that happened to me with Riamfada and how I acted immediately.

Jebel Akhbar with Kat //Seifa Al Sheik - the Great Escape and recovery
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/103005.html

Replies & thoughts of Seifa Great Escape // Cyrus Oriole // An iftar meal
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/103233.html



Be honest with yourself. Will you be able to react very fast in case of sudden accidents and you see your bird flying away?

And if you want the best for your bird, total free flight add only 0.1% of the benefit of flight.
Flying at home will give 95%
Flying with a good harness add 4.9%
read shanlung: Harness for flighted parrots - To Nick and folks
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/8284.html

on training to use harness and how to make the best harness.

YOU MUST READ THE END PART WHERE I REPORTED ON ALL MY ACCIDENTS, ESPECIALLY IN BANTIENYEN. DO YOU THINK YOU WILL BE AS LUCKY AS ME?

Can you handle Murphy if Murphy is standing by your side?

Total free flight give you 0.1% and at great risk.

I wrote of that in

shanlung: Riamfada free flights in villa // And around neighbourhood
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/121070.html

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Please do not do what you see me do.

FREE FLIGHT IS LIFE AND DEATH PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF UNLESS YOU DO KNOW.
NEVER EVER FREE FLY WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE AS THIS CAN LEAD TO LOSS AND DEATH OF YOUR BIRD.

I have been thinking. Of free flights with Riamfada. But the last few times when I thought of it, my dear wife screamed. She screamed and cried loud enough to frighten the wits out of me , or back into me , which ever way that you choose.

A parrot truely need not do any freeflights. Allowing him/her to fly inside your home made safe for that will give 95% of all the benefits from flying.

Allowing your parrot to fly in harness and leash, might add 4.9% more. But that being said, the sheer pleasure to you of taking your parrot outdoors with you and to fly cannot be imagined. If you have prepared yourself by first letting your parrot fly in semi free flight conditions (flying in big enclosed space eg gym or in big hall) , and then taking careful small steps outside in harness and short leash, that should be safe enough.

Long distance harnessed flights should be after you and your parrot thoroughly trained together, flying your parrot in head winds, tail winds, cross winds, shifty wind conditions, from high to low, and low to high.

Do not do free flights. That 0.1% benefit to your parrot is not worth the nightmare if things go wrong.

You know Riamfada had been on deliberate free flights.

Free flight is dangerous, extremely dangerous with any kind of parrot, and especially a grey.

Free flight might add 0.1% to the benefits of flight to your parrot. But the adrenaline rush to you is immense. That comes from living dangerously, knowing Murphy might just turn up.

I know with the coming departure, my mood might not be good. But I felt I could control that enough.

I also thought back to Riamfada flights with me. She clearly shown she could think on her wings. The videos of her turning back to my wife when she could not first find me was heartening. And of her flying and turning back to the wall , and then heading to me was heartening as well.

shanlung: Pakistan again// more on mind & tofu // Dommie at Omer//kitties// Riamfada and 3 turns on dime
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/118669.html
Then that unscheduled free flight at the beach when that knot to that swivel joint unravelled and she did that glorious freeflight and returned to me had to be considered too.

Her spooking got even more controlled in the villa, just a short flight away before returning to me.

In the villa, Riamfada would so often fly to me uncalled, went back to her many perch to do her thing, and fly again to me. In all our walks in last couple of months, she never showed any desire to leave me. And if she decided on parroty jokes, how many more parroty jokes could she play on me. I decided I could accept her parroty jokes.

And she knew our neighbourhood so well now from all the neighbourhood walks we had done.

I decided to go on neighbourhood walks earlier today. I noticed the light faded too much by time we went out at 530pm. So today, we went out of the house at 5pm.

Riam was harnessed and leashed as we went around the mulberry bush.

Thoughts of free flight hit my mind. Hit it hard today 24 September.

I decided my wife screamed too much. Before she opened her mouth to scream, I premptively told her to shut up. Got her to hold the rod/reel. I then took the leash off Riamfada's harness.

I saw from corner of my eye my wife opened her mouth, as to scream. I told her screaming might well spook Riam, and to my satisfaction, saw her closing her mouth.
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And why do I do that? Something that I cannot recommend to be done by you or others?
Why do some people do rock climbing without any safety harness and lines?

Why do some people climb Mount Everest without oxygen?

Why do some people do BASE jumps from edge of tall buildings and cliffs?

How can I give you a meaningful answer?

How about stupidity?

We can talk about adrenaline rush to the head and the heart.
We can talk about beauty and soul desire.
All those involved great risks.

There are some aspects of life with no rational answers.

I can only give warnings that what I do should not be done without careful thoughts and with clear knowledge of the risks.

Sorry if this is not the answer that you might want.



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This time the free flights were done in Indonesia.
By folks who listen to their birds and at end of long process which started with listening to their birds and ended with them listening to their birds.
Not done by a group specially selected by some self styled guru who finished a course by his/her heros.

But by a simple group of peasant-like folks, like those in Taiwan, who allowed their birds to train them.



FREE FLIGHT IS LIFE AND DEATH PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF UNLESS YOU DO KNOW.
NEVER EVER FREE FLY WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE AS THIS CAN LEAD TO LOSS AND DEATH OF YOUR BIRD.

facebook video below

Not only peasants in Indonesia did free flights with peasant like folks in Taiwan.
Thais do that too



Enjoy the sight of those birdies flying about and returning to their care givers.


More free flights in the open.

From Singapore. That big guy in blue is Silvanus. In 2002, he was stunned by me and Tinkerbell in Taiwan. He never realised a birdie can fly and meant to fly. From time to time when I return to Singapore I talked more with him. What I wrote made sense to him.

To cut a long story short, he is now the Chairman of Free flight birdies in Singapore.
All these from folks who care to listen to their birdies first and who do not hold themselves as Master and Lord over them but holding themselves as equals with their birdies




FREE FLIGHT IS LIFE AND DEATH PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF UNLESS YOU DO KNOW.
NEVER EVER FREE FLY WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE AS THIS CAN LEAD TO LOSS AND DEATH OF YOUR BIRD.
 
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