A portable perch with attached food cup makes it possible for Mercury, an African grey, to enjoy a day at the beach.

SUMMER IS IN full swing and so are your vacation plans. You're looking forward to a trip to the cabin, the family reunion, perhaps a stay in a nice hotel.

There's just one problem: you can't share any of it with your favorite animal pal, your bird. Or can you?

It's tough leaving your bird all alone while you go off to have fun. Pet sitters are expensive and, let's face it, you worry anyway. (Did the sitter show up? Is your bird eating?)

Worst of all is having to look your feathered friend in the eye and say goodbye as you walk out the door yet again. After all, he's pacing on his perch; you're as free as a…well, a bird. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?

Well, who says you can't take your bird with you?

Many bird owners are doing just that – packing their beaky pals into the car, camper, on the plane, sometimes even on the water. It's not as easy as loading up Fido, or as common. According to a 2001 survey by the Travel Industry Association of America, only two percent of pet lovers take their birds on vacation (compared with 80 percent who take dogs and 15 percent who pack cats).

However, checking into the hotel with Tweety is an increasingly viable option, and can be very rewarding for both of you. All that's required is a few extra pieces of equipment and following some precautions.

If a long trip with your bird does not sound appealing (or possible, if you're traveling abroad), all is not lost. As many owners have discovered, shorter jaunts with their parrots can be fun, too.

Travel rules
Our pet birds can safely go almost everywhere we do, as long as we're careful to prevent escape, protect from temperature extremes, and guard against other animals. Admittedly, a flighted, unhousebroken pet makes hitting the road more challenging. But travel with a bird can work.

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"I've traveled a lot with my bird and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive," said Mona Delgado of Seattle, who has taken her African grey, Phinney, to eastern Washington state, southern California, and Illinois to visit family. Delgado, her husband and Phinney have traveled together by air, automobile and even boat.

"The birds definitely benefit," said Delgado, who also sometimes takes her Senegal, Babylon, and cockatiel, Pretty Rita. "They become a bit more trusting and confident. I also enjoy having my birds with me."

For most traveling parrots, wing clips are mandatory; the last thing you want on your vacation is to mount a recovery mission for a bird that's flown the coop in a strange city.

Some type of well-constructed carrier also is a must; a variety of reasonably priced models are available for all types of travel, ranging from car to plane to even hiking with your bird. If you can't find a carrier made for birds that you like, you can modify one made for dogs, cats, ferrets or other animals.

You'll want to invest in a collapsible cage you can pack in your suitcase and set up again at your destination, an extra set of food and water bowls and toys, and non-perishable food and treats.

It's a good idea to get your bird a checkup before embarking on a trip. Finding medical care for yourself away from home is challenging enough; locating a veterinarian experienced with birds might be impossible.

If you're driving out of state or flying, you'll need a health certificate issued by your veterinarian. Airlines require it and state border authorities may ask for it in order to determine if your bird is traveling from an area under quarantine for Exotic Newcastle’s Disease.

Day trips
If possible, you should introduce your bird to travel gradually by taking him on short trips close to home. Many owners enjoy taking their birds on "walks" around the neighborhood or for short car rides to the pet store or a friend's house.

Before taking him out, you will want to make sure you can control your bird's movements at all times. Never let him ride on your shoulder unrestrained; it takes only a moment for him to flutter into the path of a car or unfriendly dog.

Mercury the African grey fought the harness at first, but now she knows it means a trip outside.

If he will wear it, a harness is an excellent way to safely take your clipped bird on an outing.

Bird harnesses are made of lightweight nylon similar to that used for dog leashes. The harness fits over the body and under the wings and attaches to a lead on the bird’s back or chest.

Harnesses are available for almost every size of parrot, even cockatiels. The trick is convincing your bird to let you wrap this strange new and vaguely snakelike object around his body.

Unlike your typical easy-going canine, most birds need lots of encouragement to wear harnesses.

Slow and easy and lots of rewards are key to successful harness training, says Sara Beth Scudder of Birmingham, Ala., who trained her African grey, Mercury, to wear one.

“Never rush it, regardless of how frustrated or impatient you may become,” she advises. “Introduce the harness like you do any other toy. Bring it into the room, play with it yourself, smile when you handle it and slowly bring it closer to your parrot.”

Scudder recommends leaving the harness within your bird’s reach and rewarding him with a treat if he touches it with his beak. Then begin bringing the harness into contact with the bird where he’s most comfortable being touched.

“For Mercury, it was her feet and then her chest. Gradually work toward the back. That will take quite a while. If your parrot is really not in the mood to see that harness, then back off. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for negative association.”

The first time she wore a harness Mercury was “not a happy parrot,” said Scudder. “Getting it on her was quite a battle for some time. Now, she usually stays pretty still. I highly recommend taking on the challenge if you are dedicated to helping your parrot enjoy life from another angle, exercise, see new places and have a sense of freedom.”

Strapping on your bird
Another safe and fairly convenient way to take a bird for a stroll is inside a carrier you can strap on as a backpack or frontpack.

Mona Delgado gets ready to take Phinney, her African grey, for a "walk" inside his custom-made Hobo bird carrier.

Unfortunately, unlike dog and cat pouches, which come in a variety of styles and sizes, there are only a couple of hands-free carriers made for birds. With their rigid frames, necessary for leaving enough room for a perch, they can be very bulky.

Mona Delgado puts her African grey, Phinney, inside a carrier called the Hobo when they go visiting friends.

The Hobo is a backpack, but Delgado wears it in front because Phinny "bounces too much on my back."

The Hobo, for which Delgado paid about $65, is vinyl and equipped with inside perches and food and water cups. It weighs only about two pounds, but it's so large that a wearer would have trouble tying her shoelaces. It's no longer being made.

Recently, Global Pet Products began offering a similar hands-free carrier called the PetPocket Bird Carrier. Like the Hobo, it can accommodate a small to medium-size bird but it has no food or water cups. It weighs the same as the Hobo, about two pounds, but it's not as large. It comes in one size, with an interior 12 inches wide by 7 1/2 inches deep by 13 inches high.

Luana Feigelstock bought a $39.95 PetPocket online at Chirp N Squawk Bird Supplies so she could treat her greycheek parakeets to outings at the same time she walks her pomeranian. When passersby peer closer at the contraption strapped to Feigelstock's chest, they inevitably cry, "You've got birds in there!", she says, laughing. "I've stopped a little bit of traffic."

Luana Feigelstock models a Pet Pocket Bird Carrier with two of her grey-cheeked parrots perched inside.

Although she's had the PetPocket only a short time, Feigelstock already considers it indispensable because she dislikes hand carriers. "I’m a hands-free person."

She especially likes the beveled design of the dowels, which she says makes it easier for her birds to stay perched, and the smaller zippered opening at the top that lets her slip a hand in to comfort them.

But the best part is "they look around and they look up at me. We are on a walk. They can see me and I can see them."

The Cadillac of wearable bird totes is the Poco Pack. Although designed primarily to be carried by hand or slung over one shoulder, the Poco can be ordered with the Hiker's Delight option, which includes wider shoulder straps and a waist belt for $10 extra.

Poco Packs come in different colors and sizes (small for $35, medium for $99 and large for $109) and can be further customized with a mesquite perch, a name patch and even mosquito netting to protect from West Nile Virus.

The drawback is that custom orders may take several weeks to receive.

Let's go for a bike ride!
Whenever Karola Stotz wants to get some exercise and spend some time with her bird, too, she pops him into a customized wire bicycle basket. Then off they pedal to the park or the University of Pittsburgh, where Stotz works as a postdoctoral research associate.

Stotz's bird, an eclectus named Racal, seems to love the wind in his feathers and whistles loudly when Stotz pedals faster, she says. "He likes it a hundred times more than a ride in the car, where he complains about every bump." A wire cookie cooling rack serves as a lid to prevent the bird from climbing or falling out of the basket.

Racal doesn't mind passing cars if there aren't too many, said Stotz, although "he screams at buses and SUVs (good birdie)!" Racal also disapproves of dogs, which he "barks" at as loudly as possible.

Karola Stotz checks on Racal the eclectus before embarking on a bike ride around her Pittsburgh neighborhood.

However, he likes pedestrians, at whom he wolf whistles, much to Stotz's embarrassment "because they always think it's me."

Stotz and her husband now plan to rig a second bike with its own bird basket for their new female eclectus, Ruby.

On the road
Assuming your bird doesn't insist on playing annoying highway games (Twenty Questions, anyone?), having him along on a car trip could be a delightful experience for the whole family.

To acclimate your bird, first try driving him short distances around the block or in town. In rare cases, he may experience motion sickness at first. Some bird owners say a taste of ginger helps.

Never leave your bird in an unattended vehicle, even with the windows cracked. Birds are just as susceptible to heatstroke as dogs and children.

Chris Biro, a bird trainer in Amboy, Wash., believes car rides are a valuable way to build trust and a good relationship with a pet bird.

"Sitting and watching a movie with your bird will offer some good peaceful time together also but does not offer the stimulation afforded by the moving car and ever-changing outside environment," he says. "The time in the car is reasonably quiet and peaceful while at the same time the bird is getting to look out the windows and see an amazing world pass by."

Biro has crisscrossed the country several times in the company of his large collection of macaws, cockatoos, conures, and Amazons, always with one or two birds perched on his shoulder.

Biro does not believe in confining his well-behaved birds to carriers. The benefits of on-the-road shoulder riding far outweigh the odds that a bird will become a projectile in an accident, he figures.

If you'd like your bird to have his own place to sit, you can buy a "car seat" at stores like Feather Fantasy for about $60.

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