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Birds Are Fantastic Pets and Not Much Maintenance (Just Don't Put Them in Cages)
Our site's logo is flying or flightless birds (or mammals, put that particular debate aside). Due to an accidental passion, we really like that.
Each and every morning many birds fly or glide onto the garden, hurrying to pick up the seeds and then picking/pecking on the coconuts shells with extra treats inside them. We don't keep them caged, nor do we claim to own them. Sometimes we look after frail ones by bottle-feeding or treating their feet (due to loitering some stuff can get entangled, putting them at risk of injury, infection, then a loss of a foot or two).
We both grew up with dogs (my wife and I both had many dogs when we were children), but dogs are difficult not just to look after; they're difficult to lose. There's great pain associated with losing a dog, or even seeing a dog deteriorating due to bad health (or old age). With birds, there's no vet or pet insurance to pay and since they're free-range (no, they're not parrots) they can mostly cope if you're away from home; they can find their own food if you're on holiday. They can figure things out, they're very adaptable and they can travel long distances.
Today we saw people in a nearby street feeding some gulls and pigeons. The shortest day of the year is just a couple of days away, so daylight doesn't last long and birds are ever more desperate to nourish their body; it helps them produce protective oil.
Earlier this year I wrote about the founder of GNU/Linux fancying parrots as pets. Somehow some sinister trolls have attempted and perhaps managed to twist that as a perverse thing.
Birds in the wild are not domesticated and not traditional 'pets'. But cities that are full of birds not only "sound" better (chirping always sounds better than road traffic, which emits poisonous gasses), they are a lot healthier with modest populations of particular bird types.
Some people wait until they retire or become as old as 80s/90s before they become birdwatchers (maybe a lack of physical mobility contributes to the appeal of this hobby). Why wait so long? █