National Bird Day is celebrated on Jan. 5 every year to raise public awareness about the need to conserve the avian population.

According to National Today, the day was founded in 2002 to draw attention to the fact that the feathered creatures are under threat due to illegal pet trade and habitat loss. Here are some quotes, courtesy of Good Reads, to share on this day:

1. “Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?” – Nature historian David Attenborough

2. “Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.” – Novelist Victor Hugo

3. “I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” – Poet E. E. Cummings

4. “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.” – Writer Maya Angelou

5. “I’m like a bird, I only fly away. I don’t know where my soul is. I don’t know where my home is.” – Singer Nelly Furtado

6. “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” ― Novelist J.M. Barrie

7. “The bird dares to break the shell, then the shell breaks open and the bird can fly openly. This is the simplest principle of success. You dream, you dare and you fly.” ― Writer Israelmore Ayivor

8. “In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” ― Writer Robert Lynd

9. “Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.” ― Writer Stephen King

10. “She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing “yes” in the sky.” ― Author Monique Duval

11. “The bird dares to break the shell, then the shell breaks open and the bird can fly openly. This is the simplest principle of success. You dream, you dare and you fly.”
― Writer Israelmore Ayivor

This image obtained October 21, 2019 courtesy of Anselmo d’Affonseca shows a male white bellbird (Procnias albus) screaming its mating call
This image obtained October 21, 2019 courtesy of Anselmo d’Affonseca shows a male white bellbird (Procnias albus) screaming its mating call ANSELMO D'AFFONSECA / Anselmo d'AFFONSECA
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