Originally Dave and I thought we would be able to free fly our birds all around the country on this tour. But we’ve started the tour in December and now that we’re into February it’s just plain cold. It was 9 degrees out here in Shelbyville, TN the other night and so flying outside just isn’t a very smart idea.

Instead, we have been free flying inside! We have finally caught onto our schedule enough to be able to take advantage of the empty arenas before anything is set up for the show.

We shared the arena with the elephants; Bonnie, Suzie and Mini.And we had their trainer, Ramon Esqueda, there just in case any of the elephants felt nervous about the birds then Ramon could calm them since they look to him for comfort.

The birds had a blast! As you will see in the video above.

And it reminded me of something SUPER important to parrot owners…

Exercise via flight for your bird makes it TIRED, which almost always is followed by cuddles. Our birds were SO cuddly during this time and especially afterwards. They wore themselves out playing hard and flying around burning tons of energy and just wanted to be close and cuddle. Comet and Tusa aren’t always the most cuddly birds, they remind me of cats in the respect that they have to be in the “mood” and come to you for cuddles. But whenever we fly them like this, they just want to snuggle up afterwards and be mellow and sweet.

If we ever notice our birds being a little more on the aggressive side, we look at their schedules and always realize that they need more exercise to burn that excess energy and this energy can ONLY be burned to the best and healthiest extent via FLYING. It’s so so so so SO so so important not to clip your bird’s wings and to let it have the freedom of flight specifically for health purposes alone.

However, I promise you will also notice behavioral changes as well. Flight training is a great way to build a strong a bond between you and your parrot as well as work in healthy exercise. Birds that go through flight training usually eat much healthier too, because their body craves the good stuff.

Enjoy the video from our recent adventure and I will be sure to continue to keep you all updated with more from our flock!