Bird discovery and rearranging

First of all, pardon my dust while I try to rearrange my blog and make it looks a little more fitting. Trying to change things around, make them look a bit softer, so far I'm failing but I'm getting there. I think. lol

However I do think I have finally discovered my problem with birds. I knew it all boiled down to my being too nervoud around them, but I couldn't place WHY. Especially since I love birds, and have no less experience with them than I do with reptiles, which I do fine with. Then it hit me as I was helping my aunt feed the baby chickens last week (I won't say chicks because they were just starting to get some adult feathering).

When a bird looks at you, it is a rather intent stare. Head tilts side to side very rapidly, which makes sense as given the way their eyes are placed they have to do this to get a good look at something. And birds are very visual. Moreso, I daresay, than we are.

However, my primary experience in behavior is with mammals. Give me a mammal of almost any type and I can handle it, or so my experience thus far has taught me. But when a mammal looks at you in that intent manner, head jerking to look at little movements, it tends to be rather a hostile gesture. Cats do it when about to attack their favorite toy (or prey), or if you're ticking them off to the point where they're about to deliver a nice hearty whack with full claws. Dog, well, they do less of the head movement but an intent stare of that sort is still a sign you need to use caution. So naturally, since my instincts have developed to work with mammals, when birds stare at me like that it makes me a little uneasy. When really all they're doing is trying to get a good look at me.

Now that I've figured this out hopefully I can train myself to work with birds a little more easily.