Birds For Dummies. Gina Spadafori

circumstances. In this regard, think of them as feathered humans.

      Another aspect of time that you need to consider when it comes to birds: longevity, yours and theirs. Healthy pet parrots can live for decades, which requires a major commitment to such companionship. In general, the larger the parrot species, the longer the life expectancy. For example, the large macaws can live 70 to 100 years or more, while the little budgerigars rarely will live to be 20 years old.

      Can you imagine spending most of your life with a pet? Are you able to plan for the pet who outlives you? These issues are very real for bird owners, and you need to factor them into your decision-making. Some pet trusts, which ensure that pets are cared for after an owner’s death, can be in effect for up to 150 years — a must if you have a long-lived pet such as a macaw, Amazon parrot, or tortoise.

For help in understanding an older bird and in keeping her healthy, check out Chapter 11.

PARAKEETIS TYRANNOSAURUS?

      One of the more unusual aspects to consider when taking a bird into your life: This association is likely to be the closest you’ll ever get to sharing space with a dinosaur. Although scientists once figured that reptiles were next of kin to dinosaurs, they now believe birds are even closer. Birds are descended from a small meat-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs. The link between the two was made with the discovery of Archaeopteryx (meaning “ancient wing”), a Jurassic-period fossil of a creature that was part bird and part dinosaur.

      If you have a hard time making the leap between birds and dinosaurs (the word dinosaur means “terrible lizard,” after all, not “terrible bird”), check out the foot of an ostrich sometime — but not closely. The claws alone may give you Jurassic Park jitters. Scientists have learned that many of the dinosaurs once considered to be reptiles actually had feathers. Based on fragmented DNA recovered from a T. rex fossil found in the United States, one published study found that the closest living relative to a T. rex is, yes, the chicken! We love that.

      Photograph courtesy of D. Davidson Harpur

      Shelling out the bucks

      Birds are expensive to care for properly, much more so than most people anticipate. The price of acquiring a bird itself can run from the inexpensive for finches, canaries, and budgies to the monthly-salary figures some people are willing to shell out for large, flashy parrots. And that’s just the beginning.

      Safe, roomy caging isn’t cheap, nor is a proper diet of pellets and fresh foods. Preventive veterinary care to keep your bird healthy is a pricey must, and if your bird gets really sick, be prepared to dig deep. All these aspects of care must be factored in, along with such necessities as toys, which a large parrot can go through with awesome efficiency. It all adds up.

      

Throughout this book, we note places where you can save money without cheating your bird. A good place to start is with your choice of bird. Although many people are drawn to the largest and most colorful of parrots, some of the other species are less expensive to acquire and maintain. We highlight these alternatives in Chapters 2 and 19.

      Dealing with the noise and mess

      To hear some people tell it, the best tools for anyone who wants to keep a bird are earplugs and a handheld cordless vacuum. And it’s true: Some birds can give a rowdy rock band a run for their money when it comes to decibel levels and the ability to trash a room.

      Some of the problems are natural and normal, and some are caused by humans, but either way, the potential for noise and mess is an important consideration when you’re thinking about a bird.

      But then again … these problems shouldn’t stop you, unless peace, quiet, and a clean house are the things that matter most to you in life.

      

For a better handle on which birds are noisiest, see Chapter 2. For ways to minimize mess, see our cage and cage setup information in Chapter 4.

      

We’re not trying to put you off bird keeping. But we believe in the importance of understanding potential problems before you take the plunge. The best attributes a bird lover can have are the same as a good parent — love, patience, structure, and a good sense of humor. You’ll need them all! But the payoff … oh, it’s grand. (And unlike being a parent to a human child, you don’t have to save for a college fund.)

      A BIRB IS A BIRD IS A BIRB

      Who doesn’t love birbs? No, we’re not misspelling that. Birbs is an affectionate term used on the Internet to refer to our feathered friends. What qualifies as a birb? According to Audubon (www.audubon.org/news/when-bird-birb-extremely-important-guide):

       The subreddit r/birbs [www.reddit.com/r/Birbs] defines a birb as any bird that’s “being funny, cute, or silly in some way.” Urban Dictionary [www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=birb] has a more varied set of definitions, many of which allude to a generalized smallness. A video on the YouTube channel Lucidchart [https://youtu.be/FpCXlBWA6do] offers its own expansive suggestions: “All birds are birbs, a chunky bird is a borb, and a fluffed-up bird is a floof.”

      Birb, borb, or floof, we love them all. #BirbsForever

Chapter 2

      Narrowing the Choices

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Deciding what you can live with and what you can’t

      

Taking a look at some common (and not so common) pet birds

      You may find bringing a bird into your life an easy decision. But what kind of bird? That call can be the most difficult of all. So many choices, so much stunning beauty, cleverness, and personality. How can you choose? We say: Choose carefully!

      We know people who’ve chosen birds based on some really awful criteria, like which bird best matches their new carpeting — a parrot in just the right shade of blue. Other people choose birds for status — some rare birds can set a buyer back thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. A decision based on these criteria can be a disaster. You may miss out on one of the big benefits of bird ownership — the company and closeness of a new family member — and the mess and noise delivered by that decorative avian status object aren’t likely to win any adoring coos.