Re: freeflight: MISS NIKKI >> :):)

["Janet Jeanpierre" <jajeanpierre@...>]

Kevin H,

I'm sorry if I was one of the ones who frightened you out of flying 
your Grey outside. John Strutt in the UK has had great success with 
flying his flock of semi wild Greys. They live outside. He has 
only lost one bird, apparently. That was an older bird introduced 
into the flock.

Dot on the other hand has had her two escape (separately) and end up 
miles away.

I've permanently lost two. The first I lost was a bird that was 
allowed out on his own (like Bart's are). He was a young bird about 
9 months old, and had started to give me a bit of trouble on outdoor 
recalls. I actually lost him during a training lesson. Both my 
birds might have been taken by raptors as they were both lost during 
raptor migration when large numbers congregated near my home. (The 
second escaped over my head out a door when he was grounded because 
of pneumonia and itching for a fly.) He turned to my whistle, flew 
over my head and was never seen again.

The third Grey I lost (which I recovered in a few) days was Phoebe 
who went and got herself lost while flying with me. I believe she 
tired when flying in big circles around me, unable to negotiate or 
attempt landing when I was surrounded by large 100' maples and just 
landed when she couldn't stay up in the air any longer. I believe 
she landed less than a mile from me. I believe at that point she 
became lost and either didn't or couldn't find her way back to me. 
Phoebe was a fairly experienced outdoor flyer at that point, 
although not experienced flying around trees.

On the whole, I think Greys are not great candidates for single-bird 
flight. Someone on the list also related that one of the big animal 
parks famous for their free flying bird shows had Greys do 
unscheduled fly-abouts during their shows which prevented the 
performance of the next act, the raptors. That last bit is third 
hand--I can't attest to its veracity.

Compare my experience to say Dean, who is free flying a cockatoo he 
just got.

Janet 

--- In Freeflight@yahoogroups.com, "Kevin" <nobleoak1@m...> wrote:
> 
> Nikki,
> That is my problem here on the eastern plains of Colorado. Dean 
> lives in the northern part of the state and has more of a grass 
land 
> type plains, I live in the southern part of the state,where there 
is 
> a lot of cacti, and sage brush, a long with a nasty crop of 
> tumbleweeds this year. I worry about my birds having a bad 
landing 
> into any of those plants. How ever when I did fly Miss June (Red 
> tailed Grey) she never missed on her landing, it was always on me 
or 
> the railing of the deck. I no longer fly her outside, at least 
for 
> now, because she is being pretty darn stubborn and does not seem 
to 
> want to recall, and I got scared after reading on this list about 
> Greys not being good canidates for freeflying. And yes, I am 
scared 
> of losing her. She still gets fly time although not as healthy of 
> fly time if it was outside. She has the run of the house when 
ever I 
> am home, a long with a few other feathered friends. 
> Kevin H. ( a lot of you just thought I was gone. LOL)