Pretty

And O so happy

:) you bet - and me too!

Little beaks:
I have seen you have lovebird - obviously. But I have also seen you have BGM. Can you commment on the differences when they are outside? IE: small lovebird vs big BGM. Does the smaller size make them more flighty and more afraid of surroundings? You seem to have one of the smallest outdoor flyers.

Did you also notice that handfeeding and weaning this young bird helped with recall? As suggest by Chris Biro's theory.

Hi JT,
i have to say that Mouse's small size makes no difference at all, in terms of startles and flightiness. The comfort of both birds outside seems most directly related to the amount of time they spend out there, just hanging out and getting accustomed to the sights and sounds. From what i've read there are other smaller species that i personally would not risk outside - cockatiels for sure - and some that seem as if they would be good freeflyers - some conures and maybe quakers.

My macaw checks the sky and screams his head off if i'm out of his sight while he's outside. He loves being out there with me but he does get nervous. i think part of this is that i don't have an aviary for him (yet) and partly also that he can't really fly yet, he's still outgrowing his clip. i think lack of flight right now makes him feel vulnerable and helpless out there, and i expect his confidence to grow with his flight feathers and his flight skills. i'm taking advantage of his groundedness while i can, with lots of recall training, neighborhood orientation, everything i can think of. With Mouse around he's encouraged to try to fly a lot more.

Mouse was a handfed baby, but not by me, and i didn't wean him myself. i didn't bring him home until he was fully weaned, so he does not really fit into Chris' method.

LB's are very bold for their small size, not like tiels that are easily spooked, wouldn't this make a diffence. Umm, maybe I should try it with my parrotlet.


Nikki
Phoenix, AZ

It does seem to make a difference... my experience with LBs is that they can be confident to a fault, with no concept of their size.