I remember being in London when I was ten or eleven and seeing an exhibit at the Natural History Museum about finch beaks in the Galapagos which had a tool from a hardware box to illustrate how each beak worked and differed from the others.
I remember finding a little nest with the remnants of three light blue robin’s eggs, all hatched, and understanding why my parents corrected me when I said my room was sky blue and said, no, robin’s egg.
I remember watching seagulls hovering over fishermen’s boats.
I remember a stuffed snowy owl my father gave me that sat on my bed forever and ever until it disappeared into time and I don’t know when.
I think birds are popular because almost everyone has memories of them.