Outdoor Excursions

Outdoor excursions are necessary and productive for a pet parrot's frame of mind. Socialized and well-rounded parrots come from homes that expose them to many safe situations and people. It's very important to take the necessary steps to ensure that your bird's flight feathers are well trimmed and are constantly supervised by you when they are outdoors. In some cases, they must be in a carrying cage, for their own safety.

Zachary enjoys the outdoors. That includes car rides, walks in his carrier, sitting on the swing with us, or simply just hanging out on the patio, and garden areas. He also enjoys going on short trips with us, on vacations where we can bring him, or just to run errands around town. He loves meeting people and often greets them happily with "Hello, how are you? I'm Zachary!" Is that by chance? Gosh no... part of his daily training includes questions and answers that he has learnt to say and understand.

For car rides, parrots must be in a carrier for their safety:

We elevate the cage with a big pillow so that Zachary can see out the windows, which he truly enjoys. The cage is also strapped to the seat behind him, for added safety.

Zachary often greets our family and friends that arrive at the airport, as well as see them off when they leave. He loves seeing airplanes come and go, and 4 out of 5 times he will yell out "Airplane! Airplane!" You can hear him say this in his voice page.

Before a parrot is brought outdoors, make sure that their flight feathers are clipped well. Some people do not believe in clipping their birds and therefore do not allow their birds outside. For the purpose of what we know and believe in, we will concentrate on what we do with our birds, and that is to maintain a wing clip that allows the bird to glide to the floor if startled, but will not be able to take off upward. It is very important that these flight feathers are properly clipped. If you don't know how to, do not attempt to do it yourself. Have a certified avian vet or experienced bird handler do it for you. For our diagram on wing and nail clipping, go to our Health Care page.

We use three different types of bird carriers with Zachary. Directly below is one of them. It is an airline approved sherpa pet travel bag (size small for dogs) that fits an Amazon parrot well. Since it is a soft bag, you have to create a strong wire frame to place inside the bag; to protect your bird and not allow it to chew through the bag. We like this carrier better than the plastic carriers made for birds because this one is much roomier, darker which gives the bird more security, and easier to strap around our bodies at busy airports/areas.

Here is another carrier we use for Zachary when we take him out for walks in public places in town. He can see out clearly and interact with people with the safety of the cage around him.