Which birds do you like & have you ever handled one?

I’m very fond of the king fisher.
I’ve been trying to photograph one several times (I know of two spots they frequent), but so far without a result.
They’re crazy fast; the moment you see a blue flash, they’re gone.
You really need to have the patience of an angel, and possibly a hide-out.

Fun family fact: my brother is terrified of birds.
All birds.

I sort of like birds in general. I have handled parakeets and lorikeets and other parrot like birds.

That’s about it unless you include prepping a turkey at Thanksgiving, or a beer in the butt chicken on the grill.

I love birds of prey, particularly the golden eagle, kestrel & peregrine falcon.
Got the chance to handle & feed a kestrel a few years back at a local carnival.
The thing swooped onto my gloved hand as I held my arm out dangling a bit of rabbit meat.
Remember as a kid on a visit to a bird sanctuary where I saw an eagle owl, couldn’t believe how huge they were up close in the flesh, so impressive.

I like birds, but mainly as wild animals. I’ve rarely handled one at all.

I have particular affection that comes to mind, for ducks, robins, ravens, owls and pelicans.

I like all kinds of birds.
Cedar waxwings and black capped chickadees are my favorite.
I have had them land on my hand to take sunflower seeds when i am out on my walks.
They’re cute and fearless
I see bald eagles once in awhile and have been dive bombed by a Cooper’s hawk before. That was fun.

I am very uncomfortable around birds. We did have a canary I was fond of, as long as it stayed in the cage.

I love birds.
We had chickens when I was a kid, from early. I carried them around. The hens acted panicky when I tried to catch them, but once I had them they calmed right down. We had some wild hens also, and used to gather the hatchlings.
I also used to climb the barn rafters and mug sparrow nests. I’d hold them a while, then let them go. We had a lot of swallows around but they were too jumpy to sneak up on. I loved watching them fly. Their tails are cool. They attacked my cats as a group.

I’ve handled ducks, geese, parrots, a crow and an owl. I touched a peahen briefly at the zoo in Omaha.
The owl died in my arms. I saw it on a rural road, and when I stopped to move it to the ditch, I saw that it was still alive. It was huge, three feet from head to tail tip, and beautiful. I wanted to take it to a vet, but it was stressed about me being near. I spoke to it softly, and it calmed down. I picked it up and it just kept eye contact. I only took a few steps and he died still looking at my face. I was broken hearted. I put him in the trunk and the next day I took him to a DNR office. I told him the story, and asked if they could have him preserved for their mini museum. He told me he is supposed to arrest anyone who touches an owl. He could see how upset I was over the bird, and told me he would take the owl, and warned me to never touch one again.
I did pretty much the same with the crow. It was during the day though, and in a city. I saw it flapping around, and suddenly I just didn’t want him to die on the pavement. When my I approached he too was stressed, and calmed down when I talked to him. I carried him to the grassy area needs nearby, and he made no effort to defend himself. When I put him down he rolled over to his belly. He may have been only stunned. I left him there to live or die, but not on pavement.

I worked at a mall in Mountain View several years ago. I used to visit a pet shop there. I was admiring a parrot which was not caged, but on a perch. He made little cooing noises to me so I leaned close for kisses. An employee came over to warn me he was vicious, but too late. I had already gotten my kiss. The guy was stunned. They couldn’t sell the bird because he was mean, attacking anyone who got close.
I took to visiting often. The bird never once attacked me.

All the delicious birds. Around this time of year, duck is particularly appealing, but. any evxcuse to fire up the oven then be rewarded with a succulent bird—yes please!

I raised chickens, geese and turkeys at one point in my life. Handled those quite a bit. Had various caged birds that had to be handled periodically. Had a little green conure that was tame enough that he would step onto your finger and sit on your shoulder. Always liked seeing the odd birds out in the wild. We had a pond that I put a lot of goldfish into (long story). They grew to quite an impressive size and were like a neon sign saying “Eat Here!” to the birds that go for that. We had a blue heron, a green heron (strange looking bird) and a kingfisher that were all regulars. Had a golden eagle that perched on the fence post of the chicken coop, apparently waiting for one of them to come out of hiding so he could get an easy dinner. I had to chase him off. We had a great horned owl that lived in the area and was quite impressive when you got a glimpse of him sitting in a tree or flying.

@Patty_Melt That’s a sad story with the owl & shocking that they arrest you for touching one in those circumstances.

I like birds. There have been several that were injured at home and one near my job, that I tried to help. One near my job I turned over to a wildlife rehabber (another employee’s wife) but she said it died during the night.

I feed the crows at home on occasion and at work now and then when I have something that I think they’ll like. I have cats, so if the cats are out, the crows won’t come around. Sometimes I’ll take leftover food and give it to them. They appreciate it and they will learn your face and learn to look out for you.

There was a PBS documentary called “A Murder of Crows” which was about crows and how smart and social they are. A group of crows is called a murder. Anyone interested can google it and watch online. Fascinating.

My love for birds started with wild birds which my gma loved. Then chickens, which were fun. I was never scared of them, collected eggs and loved it.

As an adult I had a conure, and a cockatiel. Then later parakeets that had babies.
This year I rehomed, it was sad but they are now adored only children of two very rich retired ladies.

I adore owls, we have big kooky crows at work, huge loud suckers. Hummingbirds come to my house every year, too.