Were you previously a non-bird person?

[RavensGryf]

Since I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your posts in my other thread "When did you first discover birds?" It made me remember back before I had birds, and how I felt about them.

As obsessed with birds as I am now, it's hard to believe there was actually a time where I couldn't have cared less about birds (including pet birds). I was just NOT interested. Can any of you relate?

Several years before I became afflicted with bird-craziness, I remember having a friend who kept a Yellow Naped Amazon. When she talked about him I think I just glanced over and said 'mm hm' unexcitedly. Then a couple years after that, I briefly dated a guy who kept a Greenwing Macaw. Again, when he introduced the bird (in a cage) I probably just looked at it for a second and thought "okay, he has a big red bird, whatever." Not to mention as a teenager my aunt rehomed her Cockatiel to my dad... He wasn't a bird person either, so I think he took him to the animal shelter after a few months. I would walk by the bird in my house without so much as looking at it. LOL I find this hilarious looking back NOW.

Let me know if you too were once upon a time a NON-bird person

 

[Pinkbirdy]

My guy was working on a house .That had a African grey they wanted to give him . I thought no way [cause I knew I would be the one taking care of him]. I was told he was a Congo African Grey. I thought Congo meant he was a big grey Macaw [cause I knew nothing about birds ] . I laugh at how ridiculous that was now. I for sure didn't want birds [ I was scared of them ]. But thank god it happened . I didn't realize what a bird person I was. I wish I had found out sooner. Maybe had made some different plans with my life. So now im blissfully obsessed with my 18 birds

 

[RavensGryf]

And now look at you... Lol. My mom was afraid of birds too, all the way until she was already a senior. I finally convinced her she NEEDED a bird. Somehow she shed the fear. I'm sure she wishes she had shed the fear much earlier in life as much as she loves her birds now.

 

[thekarens]

My mother was and is terrified of birds, pet birds and wild ones. They've had a large flock of crows hanging around lately and it's totally freaked her out.

 

[Kiwibird]

I've been a bird person my who life. I grew up around them . I've only been able to make it about 2 years without having one (right after I moved out of home). My husband on the other hand was never a any-kind-of animal person when I met him. All his siblings had dogs and cats growing up, but he never wanted a pet, period. He was even hesitant about me keeping my small reptiles, which make no noise or mess or anything. When my (very old) bearded dragon passed away, I starting to REALLY miss having a parrot around. I BEGGED him to let me get one. He finally caved, and I got Kiwi. Now, Kiwi was suppose to be mine, but he just instantly fell in love with Joe. I spent YEARS working with him, building trust ext..., and the man who "didn't want anything to do with it" could pick him up and do whatever he wants to him in under a month The good new though is Kiwi has really softened my hubby up towards animals. I don't think he ever realized what it was like to have a little creature just give you it's unconditional love like Kiwi does. I don't know if he will ever actually go choose a pet willingly, but using the old "but he was suppose to be MY bird" excuse might allow me to get a second bird, or maybe a tortoise in the future

 

[goalerjones]

I was a dog person growing up, but I loved the thought of flying. I was a fat kid and my family was fractured at best so the thought of flying was a very attractive fantasy for me. My favorite comic book character was Angel from the Champions, who of course had wings.

Flash forward to 2004 when we were asked to consider taking in a misfit Jenday conure. He was being picked on by two bonded Suns and they wanted him to have a better life. It was funny, the first meeting we had he was very quiet. The next time he visited he was himself, to say, louder. I asked, "where is the other bird?" They all laughed, and after a while I was truly a bird person.

 

[BirdyMomma]

Awesome topic.

THIS is embarrassing, but much like the originator of this thread, I was previously indifferent to birds. It's hard to even think of myself that way now, especially considering that I spend most of my time caring for them now.

I've been to Australia twice, Africa, and South America, and never taken special notice of the birds. Isn't that disgraceful? Surrounded by such amazing creatures, and not even stopping to ponder their magnificence?

 

[MikeyTN]

I loved birds all my life but my family wasn't....When my ex and I split, I ended up having to move back home and having to give up all my birds and dogs except one, Cracker the Quaker, brought him home and my family wasn't too thrilled at first but they came to love him dearly over time after they found out how smart he really is. Ever since then, they've never fuss at me about my birds. They were heart broken to learn about Cracker's passing and was mad at me for awhile cause we adopted a dog that was sick and he killed Cracker on his second day here. Cracker was a escape artist so I don't need to get into the rest..... They rather have the bird then dog so that tells you how much they learned to love birds.

 

[strudel]

When I was a kid, people had cockies (pink and grey galahs, or corellas). Things were different then, everybody wasn't scared of everything. We used to visit various cockies on the way home from school. We'd get them to "dance" and eat their sunflower seeds. The cockies would be out the front of people's houses. It was just an amusing thing, we never had birds, and I never really wanted one of my own. My mum got a budgie. It was nice enough, but I thought it a bit of a "boring" type of pet.
Then I got my first budgie and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, I wasn't always a 'bird person'.

 

[TessieB]

Fortunately, I've always been a bird person, and dog person, and a horse person, and a lizard person, and so forth.....If I couldn't have it in my bedroom, I'd go out and watch the animal in its natural environment. I had a Kodak Star Brownie camera that I took with me to take photographs. Of course there was no film in the camera, but my imagination supplied all the pictures I needed.

Maybe the question should be: Have you ever been a non-animal person?

 

[jenphilly]

I just typed a response in the other thread that has my late convert experience, but put me on the list of peoples who not only wasn't interested, but more disliked birds in the house.

Flash back to 7 years or so ago and Victoria had whined long enough for 16 years that I finally got her a pretty pearl cockatiel, Rukia, for her birthday... nope, not a bird person.... couple years forward and an adopted normal 'female' from the humane league and Rukia had babies... SURPRISE.... nope still don't like the birds much... about 5 years down the road we now have multiple bird cages and bird stuff just about everywhere and we had went from just having Rukia to 10 birds in the house and shockingly, how did this happen, two are 'my' birds... well 2.5, I beyond adore the baby sun, Loki... between Monkey and Ivory I've graduated to bird nut... but nope, still don't like the cockatiels

So in 7 years I went from 'they are your problem to take care of' to bird nut... I paid for anything they needed, but didn't interact much or help with them. And these days, we have couple bins and a reusable shopping bag full of 'stuff' to make birdie toys, my freezer has more bird food then human food and there is a large bin full of fleece fabric for making snugglie / preeners for birds at the shelter and most of the time if I am standing up, there is a bare eyed cockatoo on my shoulder checking what's going on and literally taking food as I try to eat it... who would ever have thought it