A lot of people love birds. Many people have birds as pets or family hobby. These are usually housed in bird cages or are simply placed in bird tree houses. The most common bird pets are love birds, doves, parrots, canaries, budgie, or eagles. People who live in the countryside also raise chickens, pigeons, turkeys, geese, ostrich or ducks in their backyards.
Garden Birds
There was once a time when during my elementary years in school, our teacherstook us to a study tour of a Zoo to observe fauna. One of the most interesting places we visited and stayed long was the aviary where different kinds of colorful birds abound. The teacher asked the pupils “What is a bird?” One of them answered that a bird has wings and it can fly. Our teacher said: “Do you know that all birds have wings, but not all birds can fly?” She informed us that an ostrich or penguins are examples of birds that cannot fly even though they have wings. She also told us that all birds have feathers. She then encouraged us to closely watch the birds so that when we go back to school, we will discuss our learning insights. So, the next day in class, we were made to give our observations on the birds that we watched. The most remarkable observations given were: Some birds are multi-colored and of varied sizes; Some birds can talk, screech, howl or sing; Birds have different beaks which are used to find food and pick up things to eat; Some birds have sharp talons; Birds feed their young through their beaks; A bird has two eyes which are on the sides of their heads so that it can see two things at the same time. However, a bird cannot see things in front of it unless it turns its head; A bird has three eyelids and that two of them move up and down while the third one moves across the eye; A bird has two feet and most of them have four toes on each foot. With the use of its toes to hold on to a tree branch, a bird can sit on it without falling. The bird’s toes are also used for swimming and getting food; When a bird goes up, the feathers of its wings are open upwards because air goes up through the feathers; When a bird goes down, the feathers of its wings also flop down to push the air downward; A bird’s tail keeps the bird’s body straight when flying and helps the bird sit erect on the tree branch.
Our trip to the Zoo gave birth to my interest in bird watching. You, too, can make this as a hobby for it provides hours of entertainment. It can be hilarious to watch a bird bathe. A courting bird, especially a male turkey, is something to watch also when he makes his majestic dance with the female bird he wants to court and mate with. It is very interesting to observe how a mother bird works and shapes her nest for its birdies and how the father bird helps although most of the time he only sits in the tree and tweets or sings. If you enjoy watching birds but you have trouble finding them in the trees to watch, you could get a pair of canaries, love birds, parrots or pigeons. You can also attract birds to your garden by placing bird feeders near a kitchen window so you can enjoy watching the birds at close range. Food such as bird seeds of any type particularly sunflower seeds, bread, corn or anything else they might like would increase the chances for the birds to wander in your garden. Birds need water so that a bird bath or pool, whatever its size or material, would instantly attract many bird families to make escapade in your garden. To ensure that the birds will stay in your garden or backyard, you have to keep away all the things that might scare or disturb them such as dogs, cats and other animals, noisy people and other things that make noise.
If there is a river, swamp or lake in your locality, find out from the local library or environmental officials if there are bird species which migrate or take their summer or winter residence in these geographic areas. You can also go bird watching in any forest or natural park in your area since these are often the natural habitat of birds. The types of birds that are interesting to watch are parrots, doves, love birds, robins, nightingales, sparrows, lake swans, redheaded woodpecker, great blue heron, roseate spoonbill, mallard duck, chickadee, lyrebird, blue jay, screech owl, burrowing owl, common tern, ostrich, a dancing turkey, flyways, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, ruby-throated hummingbird, penguin, belted kingfisher, eagle, red-tailed hawk and many more.
Birds not only contribute to food security but, most of all, they bring music, help the gardeners and farmers and entertain people of all ages. Happy bird watching!