Memories of a misadventure

TO FREE-FLY a parrot had been a 20-year-long dream. It was transformed into reality on March 14 2015, when Benni, my blue-and-gold macaw, took to the air free-flighted for the first time. I’d hand-fed Benni from four weeks old and trained him using positive reinforcement methods from fledging until his first outdoor flight at 28 weeks old. Before that, Benni had been flying several times a week in a large barn.

I attended parrot training courses as often as I could. During one of these, in 2007, we trained novice parrots outside for their first outdoor flights. However, the instructor Steve Martin advised non-professionals not to attempt