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National Pet Bird Day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the wonderful, intelligent and often eccentric birds who share our homes, while also taking a closer look at something that matters enormously: their welfare.
Pet birds can bring an extraordinary amount of joy into our lives. A budgerigar chattering away in the corner, a cockatiel whistling along to the radio or a parrot demanding attention with impeccable timing can quickly become a much-loved member of the family. But birds are not always as straightforward to care for as their size might suggest. In fact, keeping a pet bird is a significant responsibility, and for larger parrots in particular, it can mean committing to a companion who may be with you for decades.
That is why Thursday 17th September, National Pet Bird Day is a great time not only to celebrate our feathered friends, but to ask an important question: are we giving them the lives they deserve?
One of the most important things to understand before bringing a bird home is just how long that commitment can be.
Budgerigars and canaries can live for around 5 to 15 years, while some larger parrots have astonishingly long lifespans. Cockatoos, for example, can live to 80 years and beyond. That means taking on a parrot can potentially be a commitment spanning several generations of a family. And longevity is only one consideration; birds have complex physical, social and behavioural needs. They require appropriate housing, stimulation, companionship, a balanced diet and regular access to specialist veterinary care. Their needs can also change throughout their lives.
A bird may be small enough to sit on your finger, but that doesn’t mean its requirements are small.
This is where Birdline is doing some truly remarkable work.
Birdline is a registered charity operating entirely through volunteers, with a mission to improve the welfare of pet birds while providing refuge to orphaned, unwanted, found and injured parrots and parakeets.
Working across England, Scotland and Wales, Birdline rescues, rehabilitates and rehomes exotic birds, helping them find safe and happy lives. And there is one particularly striking statistic on their website:
Parrots average five to seven homes in a lifetime.
For an animal capable of forming incredibly strong bonds with its human companions, repeatedly losing a home can be enormously traumatic. The cycle of buying, keeping and eventually giving up parrots is something Birdline is working hard to break. Their message is simple:
Don’t buy, foster.
By becoming a Birdline member and offering a home to a bird in need, you can help provide a stable environment for a parrot while also helping to reduce the demand for birds being bought as pets without sufficient consideration of the commitment involved.
If you already have a pet bird, National Pet Bird Day is a wonderful excuse to take stock of their environment and welfare, and if you’re considering becoming a bird owner, it’s worth doing your research long before you bring one home.
Birdline’s website is an excellent place to start. Its welfare section contains information about caring for parrots and important considerations for anyone thinking about keeping birds, including aviary construction and housing.
This preparation really matters; the right enclosure needs to provide sufficient space and security, but good bird welfare goes far beyond cage size. Birds need opportunities to exercise, explore, forage and express natural behaviours. They also need mental stimulation and, depending on the species and individual bird, appropriate social interaction.
Then there are the less glamorous considerations: cleaning, food preparation, potential damage to your home, noise, specialist veterinary bills and what happens to your bird if your circumstances change. These are all things worth thinking about before committing to a bird, rather than discovering them afterwards.
Another important part of responsible bird ownership is veterinary care.
Birds are remarkably good at hiding signs of illness, which is one reason regular veterinary checks are so important. By the time a bird appears obviously unwell, it may already be seriously ill. Finding an experienced avian or exotic animal veterinarian before you need one is therefore a very sensible step.
Pet insurance is also worth investigating, particularly when you consider that specialist veterinary treatment can become expensive. This is especially important with parrots who may have pre-existing medical conditions or require ongoing treatment.
Birdline highlights the particular challenges faced by birds with previous medical conditions- some can be difficult to rehome because they may be uninsurable, leaving potential adopters facing significant additional costs. Their bird sponsorship scheme offers another way to help these vulnerable animals if you love birds but aren’t in a position to have one yourself.
If you’re reading this and still keen on keeping a bird, that’s wonderful. But before you start looking for a breeder, pause and do your research.
First, take a look at Birdline’s rehoming and fostering information. There are already countless birds looking for suitable homes, and giving one of them a second chance can be an incredibly rewarding experience. If, after careful consideration, you are still determined to buy a bird from a breeder, Birdline’s welfare information should be essential reading before you do so.
Consider the bird’s lifespan. It’s space requirements. Its diet. It’s social needs. The noise. The mess. The cost of veterinary care. The possibility of illness. Who will look after it when you’re away? What happens if you move home? What happens if your financial or family circumstances change? Perhaps most importantly, ask yourself whether you’re prepared to make a commitment that could last for decades.
Responsible pet ownership isn’t simply about whether we want an animal. It’s about whether we can give that animal the life it deserves.
National Pet Bird Day is ultimately about celebrating birds, but perhaps the best way to celebrate them is to remember that they are living, feeling creatures rather than colourful additions to our homes.
They can be funny, affectionate, intelligent, noisy, mischievous and endlessly entertaining. They can form powerful bonds with their human companions and, in the case of parrots, potentially remain part of a family for an extraordinary length of time. They deserve space to fly, minds to stimulate, appropriate food, specialist healthcare, companionship and, above all, stability.
For the birds who have already lost a home, organisations such as Birdline offer something even more precious: another chance.
So this National Pet Bird Day, perhaps consider doing a little more than simply celebrating our feathered friends.
Learn about their welfare. Support a rescue. Consider fostering or rehoming rather than buying. And if you’re already a bird owner, take a moment to ask yourself what you could do to make your bird’s life even better.
