A Big Day for Sammy!

Today is a big day for Sammy. He's mastered the art of flying..and landing. The landing is the tricky part.

Four weeks ago Sammy started flapping his wings really hard. He would be on his perch and let it rip and papers or anything else not tethered down would fly away. A week later he took his first leap of faith..from the top of his cage, over my head, and smack into the window blinds. But he didn't fall to the ground. He hung on for dear life until I rescued him. From then on until today he would soar around the room, up and down the stairs and learning the crucial down flapping that lets him land on our heads. Perfect!!!

But today, we will get his wings clipped. We both had misgivings wondering if we were doing the right thing. Sammy absolutely loves to fly and we love it when we tap our outspread arm and he comes happily flapping over to us. But we've heard the stories, one especially frightening from Sammy's breeder. Some one comes in the door unexpectedly and the bird flies out the open door. It happens all too quickly and it can take days or maybe never for the owner to find their bird...searching for water when it doesn't know how to because it's always been given to him in a shiny silver bowl. We don't want that to happen to Sammy so we will have his wings clipped in a "show bird" style. This will allow him to fly about five feet but always going downhill to the floor.

On another note, we're anxious to see if Sammy will remember his breeder. We call him his granddad. More later.