Inspired by this thread .
A pair of cardinals has taken up residence in my yard, or at least established a routine stakeout of my bird feeder. They’re fun to watch, and I found myself wondering why I’ve never heard of anyone keeping cardinals as pets.
The traditional pet birds (budgies, canaries, parrots, etc.) don’t strike me as particularly domesticated. Tame and human-socializable, yes, but not domesticated the way horses and dogs are.
So how different are the various pet bird breeds, tempermentally, than wild birds? What could one expect if one hand-raised a cardinal (or other smallish wild bird) from hatching?
Generally speaking, most “pet” birds are nothing more than wild species that are moderately socialized to living with people. Some of the more intelligent and sociable birds–I’m thinking particularly of parrots–will bond with and attempt to emulate the vocalization of humans, but this seems to be an extension of their normal intellectual and social behavior rather than a result of domestication. Falcons and hawks can be trained as hunters, but again, this is part of their normal behavior, and is done by retarding their normal social develoment. Other birds kept in captivity–budgies, canaries, and the like–are clearly wild and essentially untamable in behavior; you might teach them “tricks” through reinforcement, but the impetus isn’t some desire to please or fill a role, but to get a treat.
It’s possible that you could consider pigeons domesticated–they both seek to live around humans, and there are many breeds that have been selected and bred for characteristics and behaviors not found in their natural development. However, their extent of domestication is not the same as horses or dogs, insofar as they are at an extreme disadvantage against their wild brethren. They’re more like wharf rats who have found a niche living inside of human population but not really providing a benefit to it.
There are, of course, truely domesticated birds–chickens, turkeys, geese, et cetera–but these are invariably food animals, not (strictly speaking) pets, though some people do certainly keep them as (hopefully outdoor) pets.
A small, wild bird would initally allow you to handle it and hand-feed it, but would almost certainly revert to feral behavior at the onset of sexual maturity if not before. Some completely wild but relatively intelligent birds–I’m thinking here of ravens–can become conditioned to and tolerate human presence and a limited degree of interaction, but this doesn’t make them either domesticated or tame.
Stranger