Tiel Tails


	Here it is folks. This is the culmination of a job well done. This is Gizmo, he was born the 12th of Janurary. this isn't exactly his first flight, but it is the best camera shot of him in flight. "Giz" is the best aviator of the bunch, and he knows it.


	This is Pearlie. He is an aviator with an attitude. He is the youngest of the flying birds,born the 24th of Janurary. His 2 siblings are still trying to figure what those things are that protrude from their bodies, other than personal cooling systems.


	Yesterday the 26^th of February 1999, after watching the 6 birds fly, and crash into things and eventually fly with confidence, we trimmed wings. Some people are adamant against the clipping the wings of companion birds. They avow that birds are meant to fly. We whole heartedly agree with this statement. We also believe that most companion birds have been captive bred for many bird generations. This is where part of our convictions comes into play. Birds with wings untrimmed have a tendency to fly to the light, such as an open door or window. Ordinarily this would pose no problem. But these birds have had the street smarts bred out of them because of the fact that they have been captive bred for so many of generations. Cockatiels, (because we are talking about cockatiels) are fragile little creatures. THEY WILL NOT SURVIVE IN THE WILD. They will either, become prey for something higher in the food chain, or they will starve to death and become food for lower forms on the food chain. This should in fact be reason enough to clip wings. There is at least another reason to clip wings and that is for the safety of the bird. We have ceiling fans and windows that have the curtains pulled back and we have mirrors on the walls. The fans are self explanatory , stick your finger in the arc of a moving fan. "Enough said". The windows and mirrors, pose the problem that the birds perceive them as open areas and fly into them at full speed. Forget the fact that they might break the glass. They will in fact eventually break something - bones at the least... I am not telling you to trim wings I am merely stating why we do.