19/11/2025
Science Behind Predator-Evasion Training in Free Flyers
Even though black kites pose almost no real threat to a healthy, aware parrot, practising predator-evasion is still an important part of free-flight training. In the wild, parrots survive by reacting to movement and aerial silhouettes, not by identifying species. Their brains are wired to respond to sudden changes in the sky using something called innate visual threat processing—a hard-coded reflex designed to keep them alive.
By giving a free-flight bird controlled opportunities to rehearse quick ascents, tight turns, and rapid returns, you’re not teaching them to fear kites—you’re strengthening the neural pathways that handle motion detection, depth judgement, and escape motor patterns. Think of it like keeping their “evasion software” updated.
So even when the local raptors are harmless, the practice itself is what protects them:
strong reflexes, fast decision-making, and a body conditioned for rapid evasive flight.
