The idea of rare exotic birds worth thousands of rands flying around freely in open air, may seem reckless to most pet owners. But for Chase Watkin-Jones and his five flamboyant macaws, the niche world of parrot free flying is very familiar airspace.
Chase Watkin-Jones is a parrot free flight trainer based in Cape Town. He believes free flying gives the birds a better quality of life. “In the future, I want to see more birds up in the sky,” he says. PHOTO: Anri Matthee
A handful of cars start flocking around a seemingly random open field near Durbanville. It’s an hour after sunrise on a Saturday morning. Bird owners remove their feathered companions from their travel cages, and chat for a bit, but little happens for the first few minutes. It is only when Chase Watkin-Jones and his three eldest macaws arrive, that the flight day really takes off.
This niche hobby – in which birds are trained to fly freely and return to their owners on command – has become a prominent part of thirty-year-old Chase’s life.
“Initially, people don’t wrap their head around it,” Chase says. “And then I show them the videos, and they think it’s amazing.”
Chase and the other bird owners share the belief that free flying prioritises the birds’ quality of life, and offers an alternative to wing-clipping or life in a cage.
“I would never want to do that to them, because you’re robbing them of something that they’re meant to do. You’re robbing them of that freedom.”
A passion ignited
Chase spent his childhood in Johannesburg. He is the youngest of three siblings. At eleven, a crime-related incident prompted the family to relocate to Cape Town. Once he starts talking about his father, Adrian, Chase’s love for birds comes as no surprise.
“When [my dad] was young, he used to sell budgies for pocket money. And when I was about seven or eight, he got two macaws,” recounts Chase.
After blue-and-gold macaw Oliver and scarlet macaw Vincent joined the Watkin-Jones household, the connection shared between Adrian and his feathered friends stuck with Chase.
“I saw the connection he had with them and that always intrigued me,” Chase recalls.
Adrian Watkin-Jones (left) instilled the love for parrots in his son, Chase (right). This led to Chase adopting his first macaw, Cyprus, at the start of 2018. PHOTO: Anri Matthee
A unique aspect of macaw ownership is that these pets can reach 60 to 70 years of age, and forge a lifelong bond with their owners. The depth of such a bond became apparent one day when the family was away from home. Vincent – with whom Adrian had a particularly close bond – became spooked, and flew into the swimming pool. He drowned before the family returned.
“That was probably the first time I’d ever seen my father actually cry,” says Chase.
Although it would be a long time before he would start a feathered family of his own, the fascination with these birds had taken hold of Chase. Adrian admits that his son’s deep interest in free flying took him by surprise, but Chase has elevated their shared passion “to a different level”.
Since Chase was involved in competitive martial arts when he was younger, his daily routine simply did not allow for a pet that required such dedication.
“They’re very, very social animals, and when they want attention, they’ll let you know,” he explains. “I didn’t want to get one just for the sake of it, because I couldn’t give it the attention [it needed].”
However, a few years ago, Chase decided to step away from the Taekwondo and jiu-jitsu centre he was running at the time. This freed up his schedule, and filling this time with a high-maintenance pet seemed like the only way to go.
The secret world of free flying
Chase first encountered free flying while doing online research about macaws and discovering videos of another trainer.
“[The trainer] had a flock of birds that he was flying off the mountains. And I was like, ‘This is insane. I’ve never, ever seen this before.’”
The man in the video was Chris Biro, an Arizona-based avian trainer and parrot conservationist who has been free flying parrots since 1993. He would become a key figure in Chase’s journey.
“I was in the process of getting a bird already,” says Chase. “And then I saw the video, and I was like, ‘Well, now I really want a bird’.”
A light-hearted family portrait with Chase, Cyprus (on his shoulder), Storm (left) and Hunter (right). PHOTO: Anri Matthee
Chase prefers bigger birds, and was particularly set on getting a green-winged macaw – the second largest of the macaw species. He wasted no time in contacting Chris to enroll as a student in his Liberty Wings’ Flight Training Classes where he studied the training and the ecology of the birds. Over the 20 one-on-one hours they spent together via video call, Chris got to know Chase as a focused and inquisitive student. Chase completed his training on 5 July 2018.
During this time, Chase also adopted Cyprus, a green-winged macaw that would become the first of five feathered additions to Chase’s family. Cyprus was also Chase’s partner throughout his training program with Chris.
Chris explains that free flying a parrot is an extraordinary experience that not everyone will understand. “Until, of course, you’ve done it,” Chris says. “Then you’ll be hooked.”
He remembers how excited Chase was when Cyprus started flying outdoors, but Chase admits things got off to a stressful start.
“The first time I flew Cyprus – the first time I ever flew – I had a hawk come into his zone and follow him, and he got totally spooked and he flew off.” Fortunately, Cyprus followed his instincts and hid in the safety of some nearby trees.
Despite the stressful debut flight, Cyprus seemed to have no hard feelings, since Chase – after running 2 kilometres to retrieve his bird – could hear him shouting “I love you” from the treetops when he approached.
Gone Free Flying
Because Chase documented his free flying journey on social media, he received “tons and tons” of bird-related questions, which inspired him to expand his interest in free flying into a training career of his own.
Hunter and Storm have a close social bond, since Chase adopted them at the same time, at the start of 2020. PHOTO: Anri Matthee
Before starting Gone Free Flying, Chase got Chris’s blessing to adapt his teachings and, combined with his own practical approach, start mentoring other bird owners interested in free flying.
After free flying Cyprus, Chase wanted to get more birds – not only for himself, but also because macaws are natural flock animals. At the start of 2020, Cyprus was joined by blue-and-gold macaw Storm and scarlet macaw Hunter. When lockdown hit, Chase took the opportunity to downscale his real estate work and focus on free flying.
This allowed Chase to rediscover his passion for videography. He had gained professional experience by shooting marketing videos, but it was through filming his birds that Chase found subjects that were worth shooting.
“Having a bird that’s flying up in the air… That’s beautiful and majestic. It gives you another reason to film it and photograph it,” he explains. “I thought, ‘I’m going to video this in a very cinematic way to make learning very engaging, as if you’re watching a movie’.”
Over the course of 2020, he produced a series of more than 70 training videos. Chase’s full online course on free flying went live in late December – with star pupils Hunter and Storm being trained on-screen.
Finding a flock
At the beginning of 2021, Blaze – a Buffon’s macaw – also joined the family. Shortly afterwards, Chase fulfilled his dream of owning the so-called “big five” of macaws by getting a baby hyacinth macaw, North. As a member of the largest macaw species on earth, North is “the Rolls Royce of macaws”. However, Chase is quick to add: “[The other birds are] just as special to me.”
The weekend flight days are popular social gatherings for both the birds and the owners. PHOTO: Anri Matthee
The bond between bird and owner is strengthened by the training process. This is where the weekend flight days come in, driven by the small, informal club of Cape Town-based enthusiasts Chase brought together over recent years. These weekend outings offer a chance to socialise and build friendships – for birds and people alike.
One free flyer from Cape Town, Waseef Allie, regularly attends flight days with his macaw Sky, and describes watching the flights as a spiritual experience. Sky’s previous owners’ stipulation that her wings may never be clipped, prompted Waseef’s interest in free flying. Upon researching online, he discovered that international trainers responded to initial enquiries with hefty payment invoices. When he came across Chase’s course, he took a chance and reached out.
“I thought it was going to be another bill,” he admits, but instead, he met Chase – who was more than willing to answer his questions, and has since become a mentor to Waseef. “You can really phone him anytime. He is really passionate.”
Chase (left) and Waseef Allie free flying their macaws, Cyprus and Sky. PHOTO: Anri Matthee
Looking ahead
Since the course was launched, Chase has taught clients from all over the world. “Ideally, I would want it to become a full-time job,” he admits.
Currently, his goal is to expand the local free flying community. “I want to raise awareness, because ideally, in the future, I want to see more birds up in the sky as opposed to seeing a bird in a cage.”
With his own birds, he aims to have all five flighted as soon as they’re old enough, and has some lofty ambitions for the team as a whole: “At some stage I want to fly my birds off Lion’s Head. That would be spectacular, but I wouldn’t risk it now, because […] I don’t think they’re ready yet.”
Despite the risks of injury or loss involved with free flying, the birds’ experience of freedom is a priority for Chase. Even if something were to go wrong and Chase lost one of his macaws, he believes that their quality of life would have given them “the best years”.
For Chase, and his flock of free flyers, there is no doubt: a bird in the sky is worth two in the cage.