Photo by Dave Location: Waynesboro, VA Shown: Rose Breasted Cockatoo "Bondi"

While flying our little guys (two rose breasted cockatoos and an African grey) Bondi decided to land in a tree for the very first time in her entire freeflight life which surprised Dave and I. We were flying and Bandit landed on him, Cressi on me and we both looked around like, “And Bondi went...?”  

Neither of us saw her land so we followed her little calls to us (which is what you see me reacting to in the video with my immediate turns) and so forth. Luckily we were able to catch a beautiful photo of her (at the top of this blog) Fall is my favorite season and I just love all the autumn pictures we’re able to get of our birds freeflying in this type of gorgeous scenery.  

I didn’t happen to get the video footage of her flying out of the tree, because this video camera I use can’t zoom in unless it’s before I start recording so it’s kind of hard to use to show things and I was more focused on her recall to be honest.   It seems that all freeflighted birds have a natural curiosity for trees at one point or another, which is why it’s important to teach touch training (in case you need your bird to climb down or over to you) as well as build a strong recall that’s more positive than that tree... as beautiful as it may be!

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.