Colorful Parrots Fly Free In The San Jacinto Valley

ColorfulParrots InTheSan JacintoValley

Fly Freeby Diane A. Rhodes D.L. Starkey photos

Saying SoCal Parrot Free Flight is for the birds is an unfair statement. It is just as much for the people who enjoy helping their feathered friends do what comes naturally. Ryan Birke has been training parrots for five years and currently has five macaws and one cockatoo.

“I would consider parrot free flight training a hobby/lifestyle,” the San Jacinto resident said. “Basically, we train the birds to fly around and return to us. There’s nothing more satisfying than watching your pet happily cruise the skies like nature intended, then returning to your hand.”

He and other bird owners believe captive pet birds should never have their wings clipped. He said the practice is outdated and unnecessary and that the birds end up overweight, susceptible to disease and have emotional issues like feather plucking.

“I learned about parrot free flight on YouTube,” Birke, 33, said. “A trainer that I look up to would regularly post videos of his flying macaws. I knew when I bought my first house that I would get a macaw. They need way more room than an apartment offers, not to mention how loud they are.” A few months after he moved into his home in 2017, he took an online free flight course and purchased two macaws from a reputable breeder. “Training a bird for me is super easy; it’s training the human to train their own bird that’s the challenge,” Birke laughingly said. “The most rewarding aspect of teaching is that first day outside when the parrot circles back to their owner’s hand. Both the owner and the bird are so excited. It’s comforting to know I can help people start down the path toward better parrot ownership.”

Training begins with indoor recall training, meaning the bird will fly to its owner on cue. Once the bird is ready, they go outside through a series of locations that are designated by Levels 1-5, with 1 being for beginners and 5 the most challenging.

“By slowly going through each location, the bird learns the necessary skills to move onto the next,” Birke said. “I have seen people take a year to free flight train their parrot and I have seen birds outside flying through the different levels in a month or two; it depends on the individual bird and owner. Five out of my six parrots are able to fly at a Level 5.”

Free flight training could be compared to dog training in that since a dog has the ability to run away, a collar and leash is put on them. A parrot can fly away so a harness and leash are used on them.

“You train your dog to come to you by their name; we train our parrots to fly to us. So much time and effort is spent training dogs but people don’t realize you can do the same thing with our parrot companions,” Birke said. “We typically use the bird’s name to recall them.”

He said parrots in the wild do a lot of fighting and bickering; it is no different in his flock and those who are involved with SoCal

Parrot Free Flight. He added that some birds are super aggressive with the others and some are social butterflies.

“We do not handle anyone’s birds but our own,” Birke said. “Unfortunately, if a parrot is friendly with other people or strangers, they will get stolen so we train our birds to avoid and even be aggressive to anyone except the owner.”

Hawks, falcons, eagles and other birds of prey always pose a threat. “We keep our flyers very well trained and physically fit so if there is an encounter, the parrots know exactly how to handle it,” he said. “Parrots live among birds of prey in their nature habitat, and they learn to out maneuver them. A hawk will give up pretty quick when they see it’s not worth the effort. We even have some macaws that will turn around and chase the hawks out of the area where we are flying.”

Free flight times vary.

Birke said, “Sometimes the birds do a quick boomerang back to us and sometimes they enjoy a five-minute cruise through the skies. The parrots always want to go to the park and fly. We take them out as many days a week as we possibly can. I go to the park two or three days a week; more if I can. We take the entire flock to the park on fly days.”

His birds sleep indoors in a dedicated bedroom and spend the day outside in an aviary whenever someone is home with them. Birke admits that bird ownership is not for everyone, but he personally loves their complex nature and watching how they problem solve.

“Parrots are extremely challenging pets. They are loud, louder than you can possibly imagine and they will be that loud every single day. I’m talking screams of over 100 decibels. They use these loud calls to communicate for miles across the rainforest in the wild,” Birke said. “They are super intelligent so they need a lot of enrichment. They are destructive by nature. In the wild they hollow out large holes in tree trunks to make their nests. In a human home you can bet they will do the same, but straight through your drywall.”

He said parrots are very expensive to keep. The sale price of the physical bird only scratches the surface. Food, toys that have to be replaced regularly because the parrots will shred them, cages, aviaries and vet visits all add up to an extremely expensive hobby/lifestyle. He recommends researching where the closest avian veterinarian is since not all of them work with birds.

“You have to have a lot of patience in general just to own a parrot, let alone free fly one,” Birke said. “They can make great pets for the right owner so long as that person understands training is extremely important, just like with dogs. You must be confident enough to train out bad behaviors and reinforce the good ones.”

He said accepting the fact that parrots can and will bite but that there’s always a reason, usually human/trainer error, is important. The noise level is a big consideration, not only for the owner but for family members and neighbors as Birke said, “no amount of training will completely quiet a parrot.”

Lifespan needs to be considered with plans of where the bird will go if it outlives the owner. The lifespan differs for each species of parrot, but a macaw can live anywhere from 40-80 years. Birke’s birds are currently 1-5 years old.

“Since much is still unknown about parrot behavior, I feel like I am constantly learning new things about how they perceive the world,” he said. “Each parrot also has their own unique personality. Their colors and beauty are an added bonus.”

Birke posts regularly on social media as SoCal Parrot Free Flight and offers meetups for those that want to learn more.

Ryan Birke of SoCal Parrot Free Flight lets his birds fly free during a recent outing.

Maui, a Catalina macaw owned by Ryan Birke, perches during a recent free flight outing.