National Pet Bird Day is marked Sept. 17 to celebrate the countless joys and benefits of companionship with the feathered creatures. This is not a public holiday, but the day can be marked by spending time with pet birds or even adopting one.

According to the American Pet Products Association’s 2019-2020 National Pet Owners Survey, 5% of U.S. households own a bird, equating to 5.7 million households.

Here are some quotes for the 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

The white-throated sparrow of North America, whose singing preferences are the subject of a new study
The white-throated sparrow of North America, whose singing preferences are the subject of a new study AFP / Ken A. OTTER
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