How Did You Become a Bird Person?

[SquawksNibbles]

I’m bored, unable to sleep, and thought it’d be fun to create a little thread talking about how we became interested in birds and/or ended up meeting our first feathered friend(s). I looked and wasn’t able to find a thread like this, so I’m not sure if I’ve missed it or what - so forgive me if there is already a thread like this!

Anyways, the main point: just share what got you interested in birds and made you a parront, if you wish! If you would like to add more, you can even talk about how you ended up with the birds you have now.

As some of you may already know, my first bird and feathered best friend was Bella. One day I walked into a pet store, and there she was - so beautiful and sweet, hanging out with an employee in his shirt pocket. But even before I laid my eyes on my pretty girl for the first time, I knew I loved birds. My whole life I had always just been fascinated by wild birds like cardinals and companion parrots alike. I loved listening to and watching the wild birds at our feeder, and I adored the little chirpy Budgies I got to meet. I was always on the lookout for bird-themed decorations for my room - now I have a number of parrot sculptures and other decorations, all of which I have kept. Then that one day when I saw Bella, I was in love and parents let me take her home. I always knew birds were amazing critters, but when I met Bella I was just so shocked at how much personality such a little thing could have!

So I guess I’ve always been interested in birds and therefore kind of a bird-person, I just needed that special somebirdie to come in to my life, but I also was missing a lot of information on bird care. I will be honest with you all - I was not at all prepared for the responsibilities of a parrot. I showered her with love, yet I didn’t know proper bird care around that time. I regret it more than anything else. It makes my heart ache to think about how much she had an impact on me, yet how I didn’t even give her a healthier and therefore happier life. But I have learned LOADS about birds and their care since and now, of course, I’m the proud parront of Skittles and Nico, a bonded Budgie pair, who have been with me for nearly 6 years now!

You will probably hear me talk about Bella quite a bit because she is who I have to thank for well... a lot! Miss you my beloved Bella.


Now, it’s you guys’ turn!

 

[Marvel_ous]

I met Sky, not in a breeder's home or a rescue, but a humble petsmart. I was eight and had been planning to get a leopard gecko, but I fell in love with the cute faces of the budgies. The little birds were cheaper than the geckos anyway, so my parents agreed. For the first month or so of his life, Sky was played with like a toy, fed only seeds, and generally lived in fear of me. After the first month, he started biting, and, me, being young and stupid, left him in the cage. The poor parrot lived like that for three years. He was lucky if he got new seeds and water every other day. After a few years, my interest in birds was sparked. I don't remember exactly what started it, but I started researching on parrots. I treated Sky better, and we made a bit of progress, but Sky remained fearful and cage-bound for the rest of his much too short life. In the time I tried to treat him better, he learned how to say "Mirror" and was okay with being toted around on his ladder. I still feel guilty daily for the life Sky lived, but he helped spark my interest in parrots. I hope to own another beautiful companion parrot in the near future.

 

[hrafn]

I've always loved birds, and as a kid I was especially fond of the wild birds who lived in our neighbourhood; black-billed magpies are still my favourite.
We had pet birds in our house pretty much my entire childhood, but for whatever reason I wasn't super interested in them. My dad's two cockatiels Missy and Buddy were extremely snarky so I avoided them, and I wasn't allowed to interact with my eldest sister's budgies because she didn't like me (lol) so all my devotion toward my feathered friends was outside. Magpies, crows, hawks, eagles, geese, ducks, sparrows, chickadees, bluejays, robins, pigeons...as far as I was concerned, they were my brothers and sisters.
It wasn't just birds though. I've been in love with all wildlife for as long as I can remember. My biggest obsession as a kid was big cats and crocodiles.

My true devotion to parrots came along with Fred. He belonged to the same sister who hated my guts, but at the time she got Fred she was a teenager, and spent most of her time with her friends out of the house, so I got to hang out with Fred all the time.
He was a lutino cockatiel, a feisty little guy afraid of nothing and no one, and I adored him. Sadly we had approximately three billion cats at the time, so he wasn't able to come out of his cage after the first few years he was with us, and none of us knew his cage was too small for him or that cockatiels needed more than seed and gravel. He wasn't in a great place and it breaks my heart to remember it, but man, did I ever love that bird.
My sister died when she was seventeen, and everyone became too upset to remember to pay much attention to Fred. I wasn't sad that my sister was dead, and I was trying to avoid my family's anxious prying, so I spent my time with my golden retriever Sandy, and with Fred, asking him to do his favourite tricks day in and day out so I could ignore the fact that my sister had torn everything apart, and my life would never be the same.

Fred came with us, of course, when we had to move to a new house. We were living with my mum's boyfriend, who I hated (and hate), and again Fred was my solace. I was becoming a teenager suddenly, and I was so sick of my teenage angst being attributed to my dead sister. Fred wasn't a pain in my teenage butt constantly haranguing me, Fred wasn't my mum's stupid racist boyfriend, or my obnoxious teachers, or my two-faced friends, he was just Fred. He was my best bud.

Fred passed away when he was 12, and it remains one of the worst days of my life. I miss him constantly.

The absence of my beloved bird was a hole I couldn't handle at 14, and so for my next birthday, I went to the nearest pet store and adopted Kraz. He was a skinny little thing with missing claws, half a tail, a bald patch and a bucketfull of attitude, and I loved him the moment I saw him.
As I grew (and as the internet grew alongside me), I became more and more interested in what I could do to give Kraz an amazing life, and through forums and magazines and articles, I fell in love with parrots as a whole.
And now here I am at 25, with my dear Kraz, a white-capped pionus, an African grey, and, amazingly, my childhood dream parrot: a B&G macaw.
And my heart has never felt so full.


((That turned into WAY more of a novel than I intended (and I also just took Nyquil so I'm fruity in the loops) but I hope it's a mildly interesting read lmao!))

 

[Marvel_ous]

Wow. Your story sounds somewhat similar to mine. Except for the fact I have no older siblings, just two little sisters that dislike me. Too bad my parents are indifferent about animals at best. If I weren't around, we would have one dog, no more.

 

[taxidermynerd]

I had spent a lot of time around birds of all sorts as a young kid. We went to the zoo a lot, I'd birdwatch with my grandmother in the backyard, and everytime we went to a pet store I looked at the birds (and just about anything else that breathed, I loved all the "weird" pets like snakes and hermies and such.).

In maybe like January 2016, I had a thought that having a bird friend would be so cool. I brushed it off because I thought there'd be no way my dad would let me get a bird, but it wouldn't get out of my head. So I started researching. I read everything I could get my hands on, did a lot of lurking here. In May 2016 I made a list of stores (didn't know about rescues for birds then) in order from nearest to farthest.

First one we went to, maybe like 6 blocks from my house, I walk in and there on a swing is my precious boy, chattering to himself. When he saw me, he started climbing all over his swing and chattering like there was no tomorrow. And my heart just melted. He's the one.

We brought him home, and here we are, just over 2 years later.

My dad was so sure it would be a fad but I've been the sole caregiver for the whole time Chirp has been here, and I honestly can't imagine it any other way. Chirp is my rock, he's one of the only things in my life I have to hold onto, without him I don't know where I'd be.

I'm so glad I didn't just push it to the back of my mind.

 

[Doctress]

My mother raised a cockatiel for 17 yrs growing up. She had severe allergies to fur, so a dog or cat as a pet was out of the question. My first “pet” was Taco, and I was taught how to care for him when I was pretty young. He’s been a steady companion for the whole family. We had guinea pigs for 8 yrs, and my grandparents had a dog at one time, but those were “pets”, not part of the flock. Birds want to be involved in the family, I’ve known they are special and intelligent creatures.

I started my more in-depth interest in birds more recently, when trying to help Georgie near the end of her life, and with learning about Smoky Blue. I had no CAG experience, so I want to treat him well.

 

[cassiesdad]

As a kid, I always remember having birds (canaries) at home. My Mom worked at a department store (W. T. Grants...for all of us old timers ) in the Pet Department. She'd spot the males and bring them home...so our house was always filled with bird song.

Kathy never had animals of any kind when she was growing up...so naturally I got her a budgie for a birthday gift the first birthday after we got married- 35 years ago...

 

[iamwhoiam]

I've had birds since I was @ 5 years old. Our first pair of birds were mynahs which were given to us by my cousin who was moving to CA. I loved the birds but my dad couldn't stand the noise and so he gave them away. He passed away a few months later and then during my 5th birthday party a budgie landed on one of the windowsills of our apt. A cousin's girlfriend caught him and I had him (Dickey) until I was about 18 years old. My mom told me that he was a gift from my dad. Got a few other budgies along the way so he could have a friend but he outlived all of them. I've rarely been without a bird in my life (maybe just a few mos.) and now I am surrounded by them.

 

[Dona]

I was an animal lover with a collie as a child. Lassie was awesome but I always had an interest in birds. My parents took us to Florida often and we always visited the parrot jungle places. It got to the point that our trips revolved around me getting to as many of those places as possible. When I was 11, I went to a middle school that was across from a hotel that had a Mynah in the reception area. I was in love. I went to see that bird nearly every day on the way home from school, which meant not taking the bus and walking pretty far. But he was worth it. He said all kinds of things with my favorite being "Going to Chicago!" lol I guess I told my parents a thousand times I wanted a bird, but they said Lassie was enough. When I got my first apartment after college, my Dad asked me if I still wanted a parrot and he would give it to me for my birthday coming up. Oh! So we shopped together and found a wild caught Lilac Crowned Amazon that Dad bought for me and I named Holly. It was a challenge trying to get her to like me and be able to be handled but I eventually did it. Then I got a Orange Winged Amazon that I named Mischief (Missy). Then I lost my mind and got a Green Winged Macaw that I named Cracker Jack (CJ). All wild caught. I lived in an apartment, years went by, and I swear it never occurred to me that the noise might be an issue, lol. But that wasn't quite what happened. One day my AC wasn't working so I called for service. When the worker arrived he moved CJ's cage too close to the wall. He went for parts and when he returned, CJ had pealed every inch of wall within his reach. I was evicted. Yikes. So my birds went to live with my parents, my fiancé and I bought a house and 6 weeks later we moved in and brought our birds home. And the story went on...

Picture from 1975.

 

[Dona]

Don't let my 1975 picture kill this thread! I want to hear your stories! And see your pictures!

 

[Bri Bird]

Honestly I had no interest in birds until about 5 years ago when a family friend asked me to take care of their cockatiel, Gunny, while they tried to find a new place to live. Well they never came back for Gunny and honestly I didn't like her that much to begin with but at some point I just fell in love with her and went completely bird crazy. After having her for about a year I bought Nova to keep her company, and then a year after that when I was working at PetSmart, someone came in one day and told me they could no longer take care of their cockatiel, pretty bird, so I took him in....and that's how I ended up a crazy bird lady.

 

[Julie Webb]

View attachment 281934

I was an animal lover with a collie as a child. Lassie was awesome but I always had an interest in birds. My parents took us to Florida often and we always visited the parrot jungle places. It got to the point that our trips revolved around me getting to as many of those places as possible. When I was 11, I went to a middle school that was across from a hotel that had a Mynah in the reception area. I was in love. I went to see that bird nearly every day on the way home from school, which meant not taking the bus and walking pretty far. But he was worth it. He said all kinds of things with my favorite being "Going to Chicago!" lol I guess I told my parents a thousand times I wanted a bird, but they said Lassie was enough. When I got my first apartment after college, my Dad asked me if I still wanted a parrot and he would give it to me for my birthday coming up. Oh! So we shopped together and found a wild caught Lilac Crowned Amazon that Dad bought for me and I named Holly. It was a challenge trying to get her to like me and be able to be handled but I eventually did it. Then I got a Orange Winged Amazon that I named Mischief (Missy). Then I lost my mind and got a Green Winged Macaw that I named Cracker Jack (CJ). All wild caught. I lived in an apartment, years went by, and I swear it never occurred to me that the noise might be an issue, lol. But that wasn't quite what happened. One day my AC wasn't working so I called for service. When the worker arrived he moved CJ's cage too close to the wall. He went for parts and when he returned, CJ had pealed every inch of wall within his reach. I was evicted. Yikes. So my birds went to live with my parents, my fiancé and I bought a house and 6 weeks later we moved in and brought our birds home. And the story went on...

Picture from 1975.

OMG, what a wonderful story!
If it's not too much to ask, how old are your feathery babies (babies, ) now?

 

[Dona]

OMG, what a wonderful story!
If it's not too much to ask, how old are your feathery babies (babies, ) now?

Oh Julie, I wish I could tell you that I still have them. They are all long gone. I don't know how old any of them were since they were wild caught as adults. But writing this story brought back so many sweet memories.

 

[Dona]

Julie, what brings you here? Do you have birds? If so, we'd love to hear about them and what made you become a "bird person!"

 

[SquawksNibbles]

I have so enjoyed reading everyone’s stories so far! It is amazing to see how each of us became bird lovers and therefore even ended up on AA.

I didn’t include a picture of Bella because she is the bird in my profile picture, I just forgot to mention that.

 

[Dona]

It's a super sweet thread. As a child, I never knew anyone that had birds or had my fascination with birds. Then when I got birds, my friends started warming up too and and many of them still have birds today.

 

[d_msparkles]

I was always interested in birds growing up—especially raptors and birds of prey. I did a report on owls in third grade and I couldn’t stop reading about them!
Some time in the last 10 years I learned about Alex the African Gray. I read Dr. Pepperberg’s book, and that led me down a rabbit hole of learning about parrots. I probably knew the most about Grays first, but was intimidated by their intelligence.
One day I was at the little pet store in our neighborhood and they had a little Green Cheeked Conure for sale. I must have stood there for an hour watching him, and petting his little head through the cage bars. I started doing a TON of reading about GCC’s, along with some of the other birds that came and went at the store. They actually had a very beautiful kakariki available around the time I was finally ready to make a decision, but it just wasn’t what I knew my heart wanted.
I never had a bird before, so I was QUITE NERVOUS. Still, I had been visiting and reading for about a year until my 17 year old cat passed away. And suddenly it was time. I went to three stores (repeatedly) before meeting little Waffle (unnamed pineapple conure at the time). S/he has been everything I dreamed of and much, much more!

 

[SquawksNibbles]

I was always interested in birds growing up—especially raptors and birds of prey. I did a report on owls in third grade and I couldn’t stop reading about them!
Some time in the last 10 years I learned about Alex the African Gray. I read Dr. Pepperberg’s book, and that led me down a rabbit hole of learning about parrots. I probably knew the most about Grays first, but was intimidated by their intelligence.
One day I was at the little pet store in our neighborhood and they had a little Green Cheeked Conure for sale. I must have stood there for an hour watching him, and petting his little head through the cage bars. I started doing a TON of reading about GCC’s, along with some of the other birds that came and went at the store. They actually had a very beautiful kakariki available around the time I was finally ready to make a decision, but it just wasn’t what I knew my heart wanted.
I never had a bird before, so I was QUITE NERVOUS. Still, I had been visiting and reading for about a year until my 17 year old cat passed away. And suddenly it was time. I went to three stores (repeatedly) before meeting little Waffle (unnamed pineapple conure at the time). S/he has been everything I dreamed of and much, much more!

Great story! I can see from your profile picture that Waffle is a sweetie!

Also, sorry about the loss of your cat.

 

[d_msparkles]

Thank you for the kind words! Beatrice Kitty had a long and very comfortable life. I know her little spirit is still with us! (And probably annoyed by the bird—ha!)

 

[Lady Jane]

As a child my mom would not allow any animals in the house except a parakeet. That started the feather ball rolling. As an adult I saw an African Gry and was then totally hooked on birds.