Back in the day there were even more for awhile.

You’ve hear the expression “bird brain”. Nuf said.

Another commonly used avian expression is “eats like a bird”. Having lived with three parrots for a number of years, I can say that that expression is contrary to the facts. Birds eat like there’s no tomorrow. They eat socially, meaning that if they see you or any other critter eating they start eating too. Also they’re vary wasteful, like if you give them a nut they just kind of chew it up and actually consume only a portion of it, and often getting bored or whatever and just drop it halfway through. Birds do not eat like birds.

There was an inexplicable craze for it some years ago. I kept mine because I do like starlings a lot.

What in the world do you like about starlings?

European Starling (Credit: Tim Felce, Wiki)

They have fancy iridescent and gold-lined black suits, they act like a superfluid in their murmurations and they produce a kind of guano rain that is the bane of Rome.

I'm glad you asked!

In order of increasing coolness:

• Iridescent plumage
• Mimicry (I have heard them mimicking car alarms and other everyday human noises)
• Their flocking behaviour, which is a sight to behold (I continue to resist the use of the disgustingly twee and entirely unscientific word "murmuration")

EDIT: I've noticed that Americans hate starlings, possibly because they're an invasive non-native species in North America.

Hmm, ok, fair enough. We do have them across the pond, yes; we call them European Starlings, so I assume they're an invasive species; maybe that's where my knee-jerk reaction came from. I used to be a bit of a birder, and starlings would sort of get in the way.

By the way, it has begun again...

Great news. Harpy eagle?

Indeed. The largest bird of prey in the world, if I recall correctly.

I think condors, vultures, and at least one other eagle are bigger.

Ah, you're right. It's apparently "among the largest extant species of eagles". Anyway, I may need to find an avatar that's more my "spirit bird".

Long-tailed tit, maybe.

Maybe.

Corvus is a bird but also happens to be a constellation in the night sky. One time, I used to dabble with Astronomy.

Birds eat like there’s no tomorrow. — praxis

I heard birds have no satiation instinct and can actually burst from overeating. (Young kittens and puppies also don't have a satiation instinct, but if properly domesticated, they learn it.)
Who'd have thought that satiation is something to be learned.

Not true for parrots. We have a conure, a pionus, some kind of African, and feed them way more than they can eat each day.

Dogs though, I think that any I’ve had would probably eat until they were sick, given free rein at an all-you-can-eat steak house or whatever.

I may need to find an avatar that's more my "spirit bird". — Noble Dust

You must have an adorable spirit.

You must have an adorable spirit. — praxis

Exactly.

(Photo Source: Wikipedia)

Our true spirit bird is probably the broiler chicken. Or maybe it is the counterpart to the fanciful "spirit" bird, call it the mattering bird.

Behind every spirit bird is a matter bird, that does physical work of pleasing philosophers the most. The bird that "matters" in sandwiches and fry baskets.

Which bird is the chicken's spirit bird? Or is does it have a spirit person? Or a spirit dinosaur maybe?

Birds don't have spirit animals. You know that. :P

I had a chicken burrito for lunch; i'm not so sure!

Bird has several meanings, think about it.

Any strange Hondurian "birds" we ought to know about. You've Toucans down there.



Keel-billed toucan
(Photo Credit: Andy Morffew, Wiki)

A trapped bird's (philosopher's) fever dream of liberation (wisdom)

Our true spirit bird is probably the broiler chicken. — Nils Loc

We used to have them at home, on a farm, they were free to roam around. They were such smart and amiable beings. I would cuddle and play with them.

So many people see a broiler chicken and think it's stupid and good only for one thing: to be killed and eaten. But they are so much more than that. How different animals can be, depending on how one treats them.

Because some got lose after a hurricane in the 90's, wild chickens are everywhere on the island of Kauai. A few years ago we lived in a house on the edge of a wooded valley there and the chickens would run around in big herds around the yard. Herds (or is it pride?) of feral cats too.

Any strange Hondurian "birds" we ought to know about. You've Toucans down there. — Nils Loc

Yes we have some wonderful birds down here. I had a pair of these for a while.

The wild ones used to come and visit them, the trade food sometimes.
I had a pain of hawks nesting in one of the almond trees in my yard last year. We also have redheaded woodpeckers, parrots, hummingbirds, doves and lots of others I don't know the names of.


But the word BIRD has been is is still being used in other ways that to talk about feathered friends.
In England a bird is the same as a chick in the states, a girl. But it also was used to describe time in prison, "doing bird".
And lets not forget the international sign of disagreement and anger, "flipping the bird".

Here's another bird song that's appropriate for this thread

I think it is time to change the question.

Why do so many have guys with glasses as their avatar?

Because they are fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd