With training and practice, pet birds can fly free
Neena McNulty’s trained macaw, Ingrid, returns to her after a quick flight around Briar Patch Park Monday Mar. 29. McNulty has spent several months training the bird to fly and return, and feels the bird is much happier with the freedom flying provides.
A local woman proves the old adage if you love something, set it free.
Neena Lynne McNulty, 47, has trained her blue-throated macaw, Ingrid, to soar through the suburban skies and return back to her on command.
“To let a bird have the use of its wings is like the kindest thing you can do,” McNulty said. “It’s really the most enriching thing you can offer. It’s like the use of our legs, you know, we take (walking) for granted, but once you lose it, it can be the worse thing ever.”
Birds gain a variety of skills by being able to free fly, such as how to judge distances better, how to maneuver for a landing and object preeminence, a skill where “even if (Ingrid) can’t see me, she knows I’m here,” said McNulty, gesturing at Ingrid as she squeaked from above.
Besides the added mental simulation, McNulty said flying also is good for the overall physical health of the bird.
“A skilled and well-trained flighted bird is just a much more happier bird,” said McNulty, who bought Ingrid about two and a half years ago for $2,500.
She recommends training larger birds, but if smaller birds — who are especially vulnerable to hawks — were to be trained, they would be better off free flying in a small flock where “they kind of keep an eye out for each other.”
The key to training Ingrid was practicing recall and to fly up and down, she said. She explained that a bird can fly up to a tree, but not have the ability to come down.
“If you practice recall, wherever the bird is, it will come to you when you call it,” said McNulty, who added that teaching a bird to fly up and down is not something inherent, but an acquired skill. Some bird owners fear birds will bump into things if let loose in the house, but “just like a small child, they learn what to do and what not to do when they walk.”
It took McNulty about four months to train Ingrid, but she said it would have taken her less time if she started training at a younger age. Ingrid has become so social that it is not uncommon for her land on a stranger, McNulty said. She wants to break the bird of this bad habit to avoid irritating people and, much worse, prevent Ingrid from being stolen, she said.
Professional bird trainer Chris Biro warns that, just like rock climbing, teaching a bird to free fly is not for everyone.
“Not everyone has the mental framework to take on the free-flight experience,” said Biro, who added it takes ability and willingness from both the person and bird.
When Biro first started training birds for free flight in 1993, he said the relationship between him and the bird changed from jailer to roommate. He got to see a different side of his bird.
“These are animals that are designed to express themselves in an open space,” Biro said. “Their personality blossoms in a way that you wouldn’t know if they didn’t have that freedom.”
Learn more
For more on how to train your bird to free fly, visit professional bird trainer Chris Biro’s Web site at www.wingsatliberty.com.
This article originally appeared in Glen Ellyn News.
