We have received numerous questions about how Gandy.  Here are the answers to some of the most common questions we've been asked.

How far away from home was Gandy found?

The driving distance between our home and where Gandy was found is 12 miles.  A direct line drawn on the map between the two locations shows the distance as roughly eight miles.

Have you noticed Gandy eating differently?  Gobbling everything up?  Suspicious & cautious?  New foods?

He is a bit more aggressive around food. He is not shy about flying over and nabbing a piece of food as it is being prepared. Before, he'd usually beg for something and wait until I handed it over. Now, there's no time for such nonsense. He just flies in and grabs. Doesn't matter who has it - much to Cameron's dismay. He will grab food from Cameron's beak and get aggressive if we have anything to say about it.

At first, he'd eat anything that was placed in front of him. Now that he's been home for a couple of weeks, his old likes & dislikes are emerging. He's getting fussier, although he remains a good eater.

He craved protein his first week home. Forget bread, grains, fruit, veggies - he wanted good old protein and to a lesser extent, fat. We've theorized that it was difficult for him to get protein while he was out. He probably had a lot of bread, fruit, seeds, maybe veggies to choose from but no protein. We're also wondering if this had an effect on his brain and if that could be the reason his verbal skills have deteriorated.

Does he move differently?  Brisk, like on a mission?  Perhaps moving furtively?

He is a much better flier than he was when he left. He can easily turn, divert his direction, fly down, and land on a dime. He does an interesting movement when he's thinking about flying: he moves both wings up and down a couple of times, then takes off. It's quite helpful in predicting that he's going to fly somewhere. He doesn't seem to be moving furtively but that could because he's in familiar territory.

Have you noticed any new skills?

Just much better take off, flying, and landing skills.

Does he have any new 'voices'?

Hard to say - his voice is still quite garbled and it's difficult to make out what he's saying.

Have you taken him outside?  Does he show any new reaction to it?

He has not been outside since we brought him home from the vet two weeks ago.  He shows no interest in going outside, which is unlike Cameron's reaction - when we rescued Cameron he'd beg towards the window frequently as if to tell us he wanted leave.

Do you think you would ever allow free flight?

At this point, I am doubtful that I will ever attempt to free fly Gandalf. 

Free flight was never my intention to start with anyways, instead I was giving him the gift of indoor flight and training him in case he did get outside.  He got loose before he was ready.  For one thing, he was not comfortable with flying down and his recall was only about 50%.

His recall is incredibly strong right now.  As soon as I move, he's right there beside me.  I plan to start training again to take advantage of this.

Note: for more on training parrots for flight, indoor or free, visit Chris Biro's website.