shanlung
Regular Member
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.