phase i: observe
4 years ago, I impulsively bought a 6 week old bird in the streets of Houston. Since then, I took on the responsibility of raising and taking care of a brown-throated conure, Patrick. I had always wanted a dog, so instead I got a bird. I really wanted something to care for and although I had no experience in caring for birds, I wanted to take on that responsibility. I’ve noticed that the way I care for him is different that how other bird owners do it, but I guess that is simply my method.
Method
I am documenting my daily routine with my iphone camera, all through photos
Everyday care!
- Changing food and water: even if Patrick doesn’t eat all of it, I change it anyways because I know he picks out his favorite parts and I don’t want him eating stale food; I also always switch out his water because he likes to make soup out of it
- Putting his diaper on: I put a diaper on him so he can roam freely around the house without having to worry about poop everywhere; I put his diaper on by taking him out of his cage without getting bitten and putting on each Velcro piece together and putting the strap over his head; A lot of diaper care includes making sure he doesn’t rip it off so it took a lot of different designs and fabrics to find the right one for him
- Attention & Playtime: Conures require a lot of attention so throughout the day I let him socialize with my other family members/guests and play with him (this mainly includes tapping and letting him use me as a tree to climb on). He tends to ask for attention by screaming or simply following me around. I usually bring him around with anything I do and he acts as a spectator. He likes to play with pens, bottle caps, and basically anything else that attracts his attention. He occasionally likes to be pet, but that is usually before he goes to sleep.
- Damage Control: Patrick has the habit of chewing up everything that aren’t his toy- so everyday I has to make sure he doesn’t chew household items such as lamps, clothes, shoes, etc
- Taking his diaper off: Taking his diaper off is a more difficult process because it includes catching him
- Putting him back in his cage: once I get the diaper off of him (how long it takes varies on how stubborn he is) and put him back in his cage so he can sleep
- How our bond works and some reflection: Interestingly, our bond is very human-like; we get mad at each other like any other human beings would but he still trusts me to handle him and take care of him the most. He understands what other people can feel so he has his own way of comforting people and showing affection. Despite our odd bond, I am still his caretaker; he is dependent on me and he knows it. He knows that I give him food and water, etc etc. However Patrick is still vastly unaware that he is NOT a human being. He has never lived with another bird nor been around them; therefore, he learned everything himself or from humans. This makes him different than most conures, as I have noticed he doesn’t have the same behavior as his species (or even make the same sounds). Throughout the years, I have also figured out what his sounds mean (despite his inability to speak/mimic human speech). I know when he wants water, food, or attention, as well as what emotions he’s feeling based on the sounds he makes. Overall, both of us have each other figured out and manage to coexist.
Conclusions: A couple things I realized is that I willingly take care of my bird (I technically don’t have to) because I empathize with him being unable to care for himself. In this routine, my ‘yearning’ is to basically give him whatever he is yearning for (whether it be food, attention, etc). I also do these things for him to get satisfaction from bonding with him and being able to raise and care for a pet myself.
phase ii: expand
ideation
After my presentation, my peers gave me ideas for some nudges in my project. These included
- Changing his water
- Showing the more emotional side of our bond
- Giving more context through researching/describing things about his kind of bird (brown throated conure)
After some thinking, I was between changing/adding stuff to his diet or taking his toys out of his cage so he can play with those instead of chewing up our things. Both of these have to do with him being stubborn as he usually doesn’t want to do something as soon as you ask him to. He doesn’t eat everything immediately, making fruits or veggies hard to leave in his cage. Same thing goes with his toys. He doesn’t care much for colorful bird toys, so he prefers to play with household items.
prototyping
I decided on changing Patrick’s diet by adding more fruit/vegetables/seed into his diet (basically not store bought bird food). I thought this was a good idea because an all bird seed diet isn’t always the best in the long run and he has a habit of only wanting human food such as bread and candy. He will also always do the opposite of what I want him to do, so if I made him eat something, I know he won’t comply.
affordances: cutting up the bigger pieces of food into small cubes to make it easier for him to grasp; using bread as an incentive to get him to dig through the food; keeping in his original food for some sense of familiarity
testing
I started off by taking out all of the old food in his bowl and ONLY doing apples and nuts. I cut up some apples and added some walnuts and pumpkin seeds into his bowl. Although he did eat some of them, he ended up angrily throwing the apple pieces around in search of his old food.
The second day I decided to keep in his usual bird seed, and added apples on top of it. I also wanted to give him more incentive to eat the apples, so I tore up some tortilla (one of his favorite foods) and threw it in the bowl. He seemed to like that a lot more and there was less food thrown around.
The third day I tried adding more variety by cutting up a peach with the apple and adding some bread and seeds. I also ran out of his food so I wasn’t able to integrate his regular seed. He still chose to eat all of the bread first and THEN the fruit.
The fourth day I did the same and finally got him his food. He was more excited by the food than by everything else.
iterating
Throughout the couple of days that I tried changing his diet, I realized that he still tends to gravitate towards bread and other unhealthy foods (although he loves fruit, he just likes carbs better). Some changes I could make for future reference would be to have a bigger variety of fruits and nuts I know he likes (my fridge wasn’t necessarily stocked up with his favorites), or invest in dried food because leaving perishables in a bowl all day isn’t ideal. I noticed that not everything was easy for him to grab or eat, so maybe I could cut his food into smaller pieces and make sure that he is able grab it with his feet.
I still yearned to care for him, but this time instead of letting him eat whatever and doing what he wants, I decided to keep his health in mind. While the same desire to care and nurture for Patrick was still there, I thought it was interesting to see the different kinds of yearning/desire there can be when caring for an animal that you know depends on you. Being able to cut up fruit and make ‘homemade’ food took taking care of a pet to a different level, as I was making it more complex and more time consuming for myself for his own benefit. Although he didn’t react the way I wanted him to, it was still satisfying to go out of my way for him and know I at least had his best interests in mind.
phase iii: transform
research
to understand why people (like myself) own and willingly take care of birds. Looking at it from a multicultural perspective, I take into account my own background. I was born in the US, but both of my parents are Guatemalan, so I grew up around animals — mainly birds. I had been around chickens, turkeys, and parakeets. In Latino culture (or at least from my experiences), birds are often seen as ornamental but still greatly respected. In American culture, birds are perceived as companions in a manner similar to dogs.
- a type of parakeet
- known for being loud and destructive
- medium-sized birds
- native to South America
- endangered
- not often seen in the pet world due to their “lack” of color
- considered the quietest of conures (I disagree)
- known to bond to one member of the family
- can talk, but doesn’t always happen
- pinning of eyes: interested or angry
- chattering or purring: contentment
- clicking: asking for attention; entertainment; greeting
- ruffled feathers: cold, content, sleepy
- laid feathers: angry or scared
- shaking: fear or excitement
- beak grinding: content or sleepy
- beak wiping: marking territory
- biting: defensive, playful, angry, or territorial
- regurgitating: trust; affection
- head bobbing: asking for attention or planning to fly
- screaming: wants attention or is bothered by something
The bird owning imagination !!
- Role: companion or ornament
- Beliefs: Birds are symbols of freedom in many countries (in both the US and some Latin American countries)
- Value: many see birds as lifelong/long term companions
- Environmental constraints: brown throated conures are endangered; climate threatens their habitat
- Technological constraints: Understanding bird health can be diff
- Aesthetics: many bird owners pick and own birds they consider to be prettiest or “most exotic”
What it boils down to: companion, nurture, freedom, and nature
speculative design
The word I decided to draw my speculative design from was companion, not only because that’s how I view him, but also because yearning for a companion is almost a universal thing, just at different levels or perspectives. I had a bit of trouble coming up with ideas for speculative design, as I wasn’t sure how to begin with a bird.
After ideating, I realized that most of my ideas were too realistic or not as creative as I would have liked for them to be. I decided to expand upon the idea of a future where everyone is given birds to be their companion. I thought would have been interesting to where every person at the age of 13 would get matched to a bird that would be their long-term pet. Promoting peaceful human-animal interactions could be beneficial if done right. I also had to keep in mind that birds aren’t for everyone Maybe this could be an emotional support kind of thing or a way to increase the population of endangered birds (too consumer-ish sounding I guess). This would either be government funded or maybe through some kind of national wildlife organization. This isn’t a perfect speculation design idea but it was stronger than my previous ones and matched my companion imagination. In summation, I was surprised that I was able to come up with something along the lines of bird care and generating futures.
