Photo by Dave
Location: Lacey, Washington
Racing with: Congo African Grey “Cressi”

It’s amazing to see how many people are getting more and more into outdoor flying with their pet parrots as the days progress forward. I, for one, am happy to see so many people making the effort to learn what’s needed for them and their birds to do it safely and successfully.

I’m so proud to be one of those people whose birds can fly freely outside and really enjoy what it means for them to be a bird. To know their bodies are completely constructed around flight just makes the purpose right. They really are supposed to be flying (whether it’s indoors or outdoors).

I have read, seen and heard that people from everywhere around the world are flying their pet parrots outside freely! From Saudi Arabia to Mexico, from the Netherlands to Taiwan, China and the Philippines and especially in Australia, Brazil and the USA. My African Grey alone has flown in Washington, Idaho, Florida, Nevada and Utah to date and she is just over seven months old (all links will take you to a video of her flying in each state). People fly their birds in not only the above states mentioned but in Colorado and Georgia among others. It’s truly amazing to see how wide-spread it really is. More and more breeding facilities are offering their birds space to fly outdoors, too. One such example is Tropical Bird Land and their free flying birds.

There is also much more information about it out there for people to read and the information is actually starting to get to people now (even though some has been offered for years on end before). And I have seen a broad variety of freestyle flying parrots out there from lovebirds to macaws, cockatoos to African Greys and even different types of conures among others.

You can go on You Tube and find tons of videos in one search of various people flying their birds outside. There are groups such as the Colorado Fly Week that get together and fly their birds, there are Yahoo! Groups where you can go and join to speak to people who are interested in it or doing it currently and learn what is involved before getting your feet wet (such as freeflight, recall training and active fliers). And people like Dave, who document everything about how they went about doing it, too. So that outsiders can really see the step-by-step process that goes into all this (not everyone always uses the same methods).

If you search hard enough, you can find various individuals offering to teach it to you and your bird such as this person here. Even offering free consultations to see if you’re suited for outdoor flight with your bird at all.

It truly is a fantastic and eye opening experience to share with your pet parrot – and it’s addicting, so watch out! This is one band wagon I hope every parrot owner jumps on!