Why a falling caique needs a shorter world
Caiques are stocky, exuberant little parrots who wrestle, hop, and bounce through the day, and they are heavy for their size — which means when an old caique loses his grip or misjudges a landing, he hits the floor with more force than a lighter bird. Falls that were comedy in his youth become a real injury risk now: a keel bone landing on a bare grate, a wing caught on the way down, or a leg strained scrambling back up. The answer is not to stop him moving, because movement keeps an old bird's joints and spirits working. It is to shrink the height of his whole world so that the worst fall available to him is a short, soft one.
The heights that keep falls harmless
Set his main daytime perch and his sleeping perch low — roughly a hand's span or two above the cage floor, close enough that a slip is a drop onto padding rather than a fall. Remove the tall perch near the roof of the cage entirely; an old bird will still climb to a favourite high spot out of habit even when he can no longer get down safely. Cluster his remaining perches close together in a rough staircase, with gaps he can cross by stepping or by a short scramble up a rope, so travelling around the cage never requires a flight he might not stick the landing on. Anything he loves that used to live up high — the best toy, the treat spot — comes down to perch level with everything else, or it will keep luring him up into the danger zone.
Make the floor a landing pad, not a grate
Assume the falls will still happen and engineer the landing. Cover the cage grate with a firm layer of plain paper, and underneath it place a folded fleece blanket or thick towels so the floor has genuine give; change the paper daily so the padding stays clean and dry. Clear the floor zone of hard objects — heavy ceramic dishes and chunky foot toys move to the sides or up onto his low shelf, never left in the middle where a falling bird would land on them. If he plays out of the cage, give him a low play stand or a blanket-covered tabletop area rather than the top of his cage, and keep that surface edge-free of tall drops to hard flooring.
Watch the pattern, not just the falls
One fall after a startle is an accident; a rising weekly count is information. Note when he falls — first thing in the morning, after naps, scrambling for food — because stiff joints that loosen as the day warms up call for a different fix than a bird who is simply weaker than he was. A caique who starts falling several times a day, stops climbing back up, drags a wing, or goes quiet and fluffed needs an avian vet promptly, since worsening falls in an old bird can signal changes well beyond creaky feet. Dated notes on each fall and every perch adjustment, kept in his KinsLe Pet Passport, turn your impressions into a timeline his vet can actually act on.