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Sunny's learning to fly. He is a normal weight. His flight style is kind of dumpy! Are caiques strong and high flyers in the wild?

In the wild, caiques are good fliers. They have to be.

Give Sunny time to develop his muscles and get used to flying.
Pet caiques are known for preferring hopping to flying, largely due to their stocky build. They are not generally known for being the best fliers, but there are exceptions. I know some people on this board have excellent fliers.
Sunny just needs time since he's just learning and doesn't have the muscle power he needs just yet. He'll get better.

Remember to keep in mind that building those muscles will probably make his weight go up, so don't be alarmed if it does.

Caiques are very heavily built birds. For example, a sun conure is about the same size but weighs a good deal less. Sparky actually wegiths more than a screech owl that is bigger than he is! From what I have read about caiques in the wild, they generally live in the tree canopy and do a lot of climbing. They certainly can and do fly a lot but not long distances or at high altitudes, mostly from banch to branch and within the tree canopy.

Keep in mind this is just what I've read. I have never actually seen wild caiques. Wouldn't a whole flock of these guys be great to watch?

Thanks, great info!

I tend to agree with Sandy on this. Being stocky, caiques are not the rockets or zoomers like some species, but with experience, can fly fairly well.
Let me check with Sally B. and see what her take is on it. My bird is not flighted but her Spike le Bec is.
Andrea

None of my caiques are great fliers like the sun conures. But Peanut (my smallest caique) doesn't fly high but - - if something spooks her, boy does she flap those little wings almost as fast as a hummingbird and just zooms across space. Unfortunately, it is not safe because if she hits something before landing, she hits it quite hard. And she usually is only about 2 to 3 feet above the floor or ground. She is my little social girl so I take her out with me alot when the weather permits. We have to keep those wings trimmed enough to prevent accidents.

Dweezel is a great flier, he was clipped when we got him in 2005 and he has pretty much been flighted since then (minus the short stint of clipping we did to see if that changed his moodiness). He can fly around corners and across the whole house.

Zorro on the other hand never had a chance to fly (I have no idea about when she fledged, but since then has never needed or wanted or been able to fly). Now that she is here with me and gets to see Dweezel be so free, she is learning. It is very slow and she is super clumsy, but with every wing flap, she gets stronger.

When we were first teaching her, my bf and I stood about 2 feet from each other and we kinda tossed her back and forth, praising her every time she went to each of us. Now, in the mornings, I let Dweezel fly to the stand from about 3 feet away and then I hold Zorro a little above it and about 2 feet away and she will do a jump and fall with style to get there.

c: Bri. We're not clipping Linus now that her flights are growing back. My sister and I help him practice flying by running through the house with him and tossing hom back and forth between us. He truely does enjoy it, though he isn't really prone to flying on his own.

Yeah, my Zorro only tries to fly when people she hates are in the room Other than that, she is perfectly fine climbing around...unless I get her all worked up, then she will fly a foot or two at the most.