This post comes from Barbara Heidenreich, whose experience includes consulting on animal training in zoos and other animal related facilities. Barbara has written several books on training parrots and has an excellent website (www.goodbirdinc.com) with content on how to live a healthy life with your pet parrot. One of the worst fears most bird owners is having your flighted parrot escape. Barbara recalls her experience loosing her parrot. “I was visiting my parents as I was moving from southern California to northern California. When I arrived I brought Tarah in his cage to my old bedroom. I opened the door to the cage to allow my bird some much needed free time. Before I knew it, he bolted off his cage, through the bedroom door, took a right and made his way down the hall. He then banked left and flew through the living room. At that very moment my father was just opening the sliding glass door to step out onto the deck. Guess who went through the door too? The deck was on the second floor, so my bird had two stories of lift to assist him on his grand flight.”
Immediate response if you bird is flying away:
- Call to your bird loudly as he is flying- it may help him find his way back to you.
- As your bird is flying, do not take your eyes off of him. Note the last place you saw him, the level of his flight, how tired he looked. He may have landed in that area. (Radio or phone contact for a group of people searching can be very helpful in this situation. Grab your cell phone!)
To find out what happened with Barbara’s parrot, and to read about searching for your pet parrot read the full post on Barbara’s website.