Yes, it happened a second time, but this one was very brief. In warm weather, we occasionally bring the bird cages outside onto the driveway so the birds can get a dose of natural sunlight and vitamin D3. Since then I’ve added daylight type bulbs to our bird room in the basement. These lights have a 5500 Kelvin rating which makes them appropriate for the lighting needs of birds.
I’m not even sure what happened this time. I believe I opened the cage to grab Trickle for some reason. His wings were trimmed so I only expected that he might hop down to the ground and that was it. Before I knew it, both birds were in the air. I immediately ran to follow in the direction they flew. Westin quickly landed on the ground in the back yard, but Trickle continued to fly. Thankfully, the homes in our neighborhood were just a few years old at the time and no fences stood in my way. I cut through the yards behind my house running in my sock feet. I had the bird in sight as he kept going down a street to the right before landing on somebody’s screen door at the front of their house. He was making a lot of noise whistling repeatedly so the homeowners were drawn to the front door which was open. I got there about the same time they did and apologized for the commotion. They were surprised of course, but made sure to mention that I should have my bird’s wings trimmed. “We have two cats,” the man added.
I thanked them and walked home quickly with Trickle to return him to his cage with Westin, who had been picked up by one of the kids. Someone told me after this that cockatiels are known to fly well with trimmed wings. Another lesson learned. I was just glad he hadn’t flown very far this time. Another lucky break. How many would we have left?
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