Most people have seen a bird, know that they’re called “birds”, and think that they pretty much just fly, make weird as hell noises, lay eggs & and poop a lot. Do they truly know what birds are? No. No they don’t. As a certified aviculturist, allow me to take your hand and educate you. By the time I’m done, you’ll practically be soaring… unless you’re more of a ratite or Spheniscidae person.
“By definition, a bird is a "warm blooded, egg laying vertebrate, characterized by having feathers and forelimbs modified as wings."” Then, add this to the fact that they have adaptations to flight such as hollow bones & specialized organs, and basically you’ve eliminated most other animals from bird characteristics. While birds have these adaptations to flight, not all birds can fly. Let’s look at the ratite and spheniscidae (penguin) family. Though ratites cannot fly, they have very strong, powerful legs for fast running on land. While penguins cannot fly, they can swim very well and have adaptations to this: webbed feet, and supposedly having vision that’s better underwater than on land.
Look at a bird’s feet and it will most likely be scaled, as birds share many characteristics with reptiles. Ask a paleontologist and they’ll probably say birds are dinosaurs. Are you on the edge of your chair, bursting with excitement at what I’ll say next . . . ? Technically, birds are REPTILES. But there’s so much information behind that that’s all so mind-boggling that I’ll leave the bird-to-dinosaur/reptile relationship at that.
Aviculture
Being a broad term, the common definition of aviculture is “the keeping of, caring for, or propagation of birds in captivity.” Aviculturists can be people from someone with a pet bird at home or chicken farmers, to raptor trainers and zookeepers. When it all comes down to it, they’re involved with birds.
The term aviculture is fairly new, so expect only bird nerds to be familiar with it. However, the practices of it are not at all new. Birds have been kept in captivity for thousands of years. Archaeologists have determined there were Native American tribes that kept parrots dating back to 300 AD and supposedly in 2000 BC the domestication of chickens began from wild jungle fowl for cockfighting entertainment. Peafowl have been described as “the pets of royalty”, having belonged to pharaohs of Egypt and it once being considered a crime to kill one.
Falconry/training with birds or prey has been practiced for centuries in many countries around the world, and it still remains a common hobby within bird enthusiasts. Today there’s a number of species considered as “domestic fowl”, tons of chicken and turkey dinners being placed upon household tables day after day (leaving passionate vegetarians cringing… mehhh), pigeon racing, and birds are said to be the world's third most popular "pet".
Though the word "aviculture" is not commonly heard, it's practices are not uncommon.
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