RE: Have you ever had a bird you can take out of the cage without fly away?
I have a carrier that I use to transport him to the family gatherings and to the vet's office so that I can concentrate on driving without worrying about him stumbling around and ending up on the floor of the car (primarily for sanitation reasons - my car floor isn't the cleanest place). I'll open the windows at home when it isn't too cold, but we have lots of bugs in our area so we have screens. On the other hand, the neighborhood kids like to come over and visit with Buzzy now and then, so I'll bring him out onto the porch without his carrier if the weather is nice and there isn't a lot of wind (I have a former co-worker who lost her cockatiel on a windy day when the bird simply spread his wings, so I use the carrier if it's windy). I almost forgot - I had permission to take him to work with me once when we were getting work done on the house, and he sat on my shoulder (or on a co-worker's shoulder) the entire day.
As far as his rescue - he had been kept by an animal hoarder, and was originally housed with about 20 other cockatiels in a cage designed for one or two. He was the smallest of the group, and was literally at the bottom of the pecking order. The other birds entertained themselves by pulling Buzzy's feathers out. A local bird supply store actually did the rescue and had all the birds up for adoption. I went to check them out and fell in love with the little bald one, so I took him home. He's grown back quite a few feathers in the two years he's been with me, but his neck is still bald. He's also rather nervous around other birds (understandably so), but loves being around people. I do what I can to spoil him rotten.