Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I've determined that one of my parakeets is a little vision impaired. He sees fine while in his cage and playing with the other birds. But he has an uncontrollable desire to fly around the house. (Yes, his wings are trimmed but that does not stop him in the least.) When he flies around the house it's like a ball in a pinball machine. He hits windows, walls, knick knacks, etc. He lands behind furniture, in the trash. It drives us crazy but we can't get him to stop flying aside from locking him in his cage. All of my birds are allowed out of their cages while I am at home, so they can roam around and play. So locking this one bird inside his cage would be cruel. Any suggestions on how to help this little critter???

I dont think he's near sighted, probly just trying to find a place higher up to land, and when he gets tired he drops. my cockatiel does this when she panics. I had a budgie chick that didn't fledge correctly and as a result wasn't a good flier.
Window bumping can be an issue because to him it's freedom and he may fly faster toward it.

I definitely agree. This really doesn't sound like a sight problem. Many birds of many different species will act this way when flying around. Some do this out of panic, some out of searching for a safe place and others just to explore and don't realize that they will crash or get hurt.

I would suggest if at all possible trying to let this more hyper bird out in a smaller room. If you have a room that doesn't have as many windows, pictures, etc (if in a bathroom cover the mirror and close toilet, drains etc). By letting the bird fly around or possibly even crash around in a smaller room it "may" help acclimate him to freedom outside the cage. This is not a guarantee I have a goffins cockatoo that is trained to fly, perch, come and go home on command but when she is allowed to just be outside the cage playing on her own she will suddenly decide to go for a flight and is liable to crash into anything from a chair, a lamp a table or just anything she wants to "see". She doesn't crash hard enough to injure herself but she does crash and will then just hang onto whatever she has crashed into looking at it like it was what she meant to do all along LOL!

Just keep an eye on your bird watch for injuries and whatever room you are in try to keep windows, mirrors or reflective surfaces covered as they are more likely to crash into those objects than any others. Pictures can even become a reflective surface if the light hits them correctly and since birds don't see in the exact same dimensions as humans they "may think" they can fly into or through an object that reflects the room around them, the same as they seem to "think" they can go through a window.

just to echo the covering mirrors, a friend of mine had a young lovebird in his bathroom, showing it the mirror and doing the whole pretty bird routine, when the bird flew into the mirror head first and broke it's neck.