There are downsides to our habit of keeping pet birds: popular cage birds get removed from their native habitats and some subsequently invade new territories.
Have you ever seen a bird living in the wild that obviously doesn’t belong? Seeing Mynahs in the trees in Florida or peacocks strolling around in California is a reminder that birds raised in captivity can escape and survive in new places, at least for a while. In the worst case scenario, escaped cage birds do well in the wild in new places, establishing a breeding population and becoming invasive threats to native species.
In colonial times, people sometimes deliberately released cage birds in new places: this is how European Starlings and House Sparrows came to thrive in North America in such great numbers—displacing native birds from territory, food supplies, and nesting sites. Other birds, such as mynahs and peafowl may have escaped from captivity by accident or been deliberately released by owners who no longer wanted them. Then there are the popular pet birds like parrots and canaries that sometimes escape and usually perish.
Today we know it’s rarely a good idea environmentally to deliberately introduce a species where it doesn’t belong. In the case of a pet bird, it’s abusive to the animal as well, since we can never be certain that the bird will be able to find food, endure the climate, and evade unfamiliar predators. Bird owners should always be extra vigilant to ensure that birds don’t ever escape from cages and enclosures.
Two rules to follow: never remove a bird from its native habitat, and never release a bird into the wild where it doesn’t belong. Simple.
