Birds as Pets

[ChristisKing]

I like birds but I never owned one before because I like cats and dogs more and I can't get one right now because I have a cat. So since I wouldn't keep it caged up all the time that's as good of an idea to me as it is getting pet mice. Mice are cute, but if they were to get loose it would be a disaster because my cat would think that I was bringing home lunch or dinner and if I had a Chinchilla she would probably use it as a play toy. I do want to get a dog though, but the only pet birds I have right now are outside the house. We had turkeys and red winged blackbirds today.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Birds are not pets.

Depends on the bird, I guess.

Ava was definitely a pet. She loved to interact with my wife and me, and she had a lot of personality.

Misty, not so much. She doesn't seem to care for any attention from me or my wife, and really isn't interested in interacting with us.

 

[Alan Stallion]

On a cold night in December 2002, in Lompoc, my wife found a bird on our doorstep. It was clearly badly injured. Neither of us had ever had a bird before, neither of us knew anything about caring for birds, but we took this one in, and did what we could for her. I contacted an acquaintance, who was an expert o9n birdwatching (and, in fact, wrote a regular column on the subject for the local newspaper), and sent her a picture of the birds. She identified it as a “Ringed Turtle-Dove”, and stated, “There really aren't very many of these guys out in the wild anymore, so this one could be an escapee from an aviary.”

Considering how bad her condition appeared to be when we found her, this bird recovered amazingly well, and was with my wife and I as a pet for almost seventeen years.

We initially assumed the bird to be male, and had named it “Avery”. A few years later, when “he” began laying eggs, we renamed her “Ava”.

She passed away in October of 2019, five weeks after I broke my leg.

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By this time, of course, we were used to having a dove in the home, and it really seemed that there was something missing when we didn't.

The local Board Shop was less-well supplied with Doves, that they usually had been when I wasn't in the market for one, and it took almost a year for them to get one for me. I guess that's on of the businesses that was hit hard by the #CoronaHoax2020.

They did eventually come through, in September 2020, with a white dove, who we have named Misty.

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Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[skye]

That's ripe: The cat yawns and the bird sticks his head into the cat's mouth.

If only he knew.

In that case better to live in blissful ignorance!

 

[ChristisKing]

I think that's actually the sign of a cat well fed.

 

[HaShev]

I've know a few people who have kept birds as pets.

I've never understood the concept of keeping birds as pets, where they are stuck in cages and aren't allowed the luxury of their created power to fly, free as a... well, you know. It's like keeping an orca in a swimming pool.

And I don't think I can listen to a chirping bird all day. Maybe that's why I like cats better, they are generally quieter creatures.

I've also seen recently some flyers of two different bird pets that have gone lost. Well, good luck in finding them again. It's tough looking for a lost land creature, much less a creature of fight.

Anyway, have any of you had any birds-as-pets experiences?

I used to have my various parakeets I had out of the cage more than they stayed in, one even had free range to climb in and out at will. One really smart one used to do flips around the pirch to signal to come out. Even when you didn't want to you had to before he got dizzy.

 

[Alan Stallion]

Here's a story of a parrot reacting to going from caged to being allowed to flourish outside.

After caged for 7 years, bird reacts to being in the wild


Pretty boy.

Reports of some parrot species living 80 years or more! Smaller ones (such as lovebirds) are generally 15-20 years.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Here's a story of a parrot reacting to going from caged to being allowed to flourish outside.

After caged for 7 years, bird reacts to being in the wild


Pretty boy.

Reports of some parrot species living 80 years or more! Smaller ones (such as lovebirds) are generally 15-20 years.

It should be said that many domesticated birds cannot survive in the wild.

I believe that my first dove was a former pet, that escaped, and found out the hard way that she was not equipped for life in the wild. She would almost certainly have soon died if my wife and I had not taken her in and cared for her.

 

[Alan Stallion]

It should be said that many domesticated birds cannot survive in the wild.

True dat.

I remember seeing a video recently and white doves were released at a funeral and one was immediately hit by a passing truck. Yikes.

The world is a dangerous place with predators and humans getting in the way, plus having to suddenly forage for food and seeking/making your own shelter when you haven't naturally garnered the skills because you were denied that training in your upbringing.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

I remember seeing a video recently and white doves were released at a funeral and one was immediately hit by a passing truck. Yikes.

Many involved in dove releases don't understand that the correct birds to use for that are white homing pigeons, that know where to go once they are released.

Common white doves, like mine, haven't a clue what to do when they are released into the wild, and most wind up dead.

 

[SootedUpCyndi]

look? you tell me! I am a bird lover? Is it Smart? the bird passed away? does it understand? what do you think?

 

[SootedUpCyndi]

I grew up in the Maine woods as a kid... I trained all the cute wild birds when I was about 10? They followed us kids everywhere we went on our bikes! We traveled around with pockets of sunflower seeds.
This went on for at least 20 years... those little stinkers did have a brain---- chick-a dees and Nut Hatchers. And they taught their kids what to do.... I luv birds! They would land on my hands and my hat- it really was great!

 

[Coyote]

Many involved in dove releases don't understand that the correct birds to use for that are white homing pigeons, that know where to go once they are released.

Common white doves, like mine, haven't a clue what to do when they are released into the wild, and most wind up dead.

On my way home from work one day I saw three white doves perched on a bridge railing. They clearly had been released as part of some “celebration” and they clearly had no idea where to and weren’t going to survive long in the wild. I think that is cruel.

 

[buttercup]