Blind Faith

I've noticed an unfortunate side effect from "flying" Bird C around. He really seems to believe he can fly. Since we started, he's been a lot more active, confident and stimulated. Virile. After all, it makes sense that a big part of avian identity would involve the experience of flight. I think his cardiovascular endurance is improving as well... so why am I calling this unfortunate?

The other day, he wanted to get back to home base, the cage. He was perched on my hand, started spreading his wings excitedly, and before I could cup him and let him "fly" as we do, he launched himself off my hand and promptly fell to the floor. I picked him up and while checking to see if he was hurt, he "flew" off my hand again. Thump. Since I'm pretty much just a stupid human with no trainer, our Pick up & Thump process repeated itself a few times before I caught on and brought him to the cage before he could jump off my hand again.

He doesn't realize AT ALL that he has yet to conquer gravity.

He doesn't seem to mind when he falls to the ground either. He just gets back up -- or thrashes around on his back, struggling to turn over -- and as soon as he's back on his feet, he looks totally unfazed and as happy-go-lucky as ever, perma-smile intact. As long as he's happy, I figure we can continue what we're doing, but I'll just need to be more careful about preventing successive launches. For those who are having a hard time picturing what's going on, please accept my apologies for the lack of visuals. My extendable arm is nowhere to be found, so I'll need a videographer before I can manage posting videos. Any volunteers?

C has such a strong spirit, it's inspiring. Nothing ever gets him down. One of these days, I half-expect to see him open his wings, launch himself into the air and fly smoothly to his destination.

What a survivor.