Birds have always fascinated humans. Doves, owls, eagles have always meant things to people spiritually, symbolically, and as omens. Their accessibility and obviousness definitly plays a part in their frequency on iNat (a flashy bird showing up outside someones window is more likely to be noticed than a more stigmatized but equally beautiful animal like a snake or a spider). But culturally, birds are a big deal for people, and for many reasons. Birds are obviously intelligent, amusing to watch, often striking both visually and audibly, easy to personify, and relatable. While I also love insects, it is much easier for a person to relate to the robin they see in their yard looking for worms to feed her babies, than the sand wasp mother carrying a paralyzed fly back to her burrow to feed hers. There is something about how birds behave that (for me at least) is oddly human, which is what makes it so enjoyable to watch the tired mothers, the scruffy and awkward fledglings, and the affectionate pairs.
Birds often evoke something in people (there’s a reason almost every country has a national bird). Early European writers often talk about the songs of the nightingale, the blackbird, and the lark. And stories often mention the wise owl, the majestic eagle, and the macabre corvid. And many people who have grown up in the treed suburbs of the eastern US and Canada will tell you about how nostalgic the call of the mourning dove is to them. Even when birds are gone, they still don’t leave the zeitgeist, just look at the dodo or the ivory-billed woodpecker.
I am aware that for people who aren’t crazy for birds (as I admit I am), all of this might come off as exaggerating just how important birds are to people, but I seriously encourage people to read this Wikipedia article on birds and humans. I know that not everyone is a fan of Wikipedia, but the article does a good job of covering all the different relationships between humans and birds.