# Can Indian Fantails Home ?



## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

Not so long ago in a post I had mentioned how I was sitting watching my birds ........ above when I looked up a pigeon flew over and I didn't recognise it as mine because of it's tail ..and then a few minutes later an Indian Fantail landed on the powerlines......It certainly was one of my birds....and I was astonished to see it sustain flight for as long as I saw . I knew they could fly only short distances but not like how I witnessed it ......lol

...anyway she decided to have another try early this week , she was chased off the powerlines by an aggressive honeyeating bird ( Noisy Miner ) and she took off ......and I watched her fly off into the distance and she never turned back . It was a bit unsettling and I knew she wasn't coming back home 

2 cold nights passed and on the 3rd day .....I was on my hands and knees scraping the loft floor and I took a spell for a few seconds and looked at the bird perching at eye level ........OMG....... there she was , all fluffed up and sound asleep , obviously 2 nights on the town was just a bit tooooooo much 

So .........it took 2 nights and half a day for her to find her way back home ......was it just luck or can Indian Fantails home ??????


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## vintar_boy (Dec 10, 2009)

I think Indian Fantail do have homing instinct


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## pigeon jase (Aug 22, 2010)

most indians dont go to far from home, mine didnt get off the ground , they on use to get around 4 foot off the ground , but i guess the small type could fly good


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

No, they can't home, but if they are lucky enough to fly over somewhere they are familiar with, they can make it back to the loft. I lost my Indian Fantail/Homer mix at 2 miles.


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## boneyrajan.k (Jul 15, 2010)

My Indian fantails could hardly fly,they are very poor fliers......Even a baby will be able to catch them,if its a pure Indian fantail.However,garden fantails have better flying abilities


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

The more they are allowed to fly, the better they will get at it. Mine can get up pretty high and can go where they want, but very slowly and with a lot of effort. Yours looks like it's pretty young so it's probably in better shape than say, adult ones who aren't let out much. I used to let all of my breeds out to fly and even though you'd think they wouldn't go far...when a hawk came around, that changed everything  The fantails, the lahores - everything. They'd all take off as hard as they could to get into trees and such. I've seen my fans fly clear across the yard in that situation, and our yard is pretty big!  I guess it was the adrenaline. I'm sure they were tired after that!


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

I had American fans that free flew. During a period of high winds one got blown away and ended up at a apartment complex less then 1/4 of a mile away. It could be seen from loft and it still could not find its way back.


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## fantaillover100 (Jan 21, 2011)

When you think about it an fantail would be very easy to catch in a busy place and they are so attractive people would want to catch them I think that bird of yours might actully have some sort of charm


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