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Rather than adopt a baby bird, why not "adopt" a whole bird family from a distance? Chances are there is a bird's nest somewhere near your home. Or you can build birdhouses to attract birds to your yard. Learn to watch the bird family from a distance. If human beings get too close, the parent birds won't come to the nest. So practice sitting quietly, perhaps with a pair of binoculars, far enough away from the nest that the adult birds won't feel threatened.
相比收養一只幼鳥，為什么不在遠處“收養”一個完整的小鳥之家呢？有可能在你家附近的某個地方有一個鳥窩，又或者你可以在你的院子里建造一個鳥舍來吸引鳥兒。學會遠距離觀察鳥兒之家。如果人離得太近，幼鳥的父母就不會到巢中來。所以，請你選擇在離鳥巢足夠遠的地方靜靜地坐下，可以拿著一副雙筒望遠鏡觀察，這樣成鳥就不會感受到威脅。
Watching birds in the wild is a much healthier and more realistic activity than fantasizing that a bird will become your special friend because you raised it. Unfortunately, movies, television, and children's books have created a "Bambi syndrome" in us. The young of most species are precious and adorable, but the desire to fondle and caress and make pets out of wildlings is dangerously romantic. It should not be encouraged. We'd be much wiser if we were content to be observers of wildlife. If we truly care about wild animals, we should be protectors of their wildness, which enables the best of them to survive.
比起幻想因為你的養護，鳥兒會成為你的特殊朋友之類的想法，觀察野外環境中的鳥兒是一種更健康、更實際的行為。不幸的是，電影、電視以及兒童書已經在我們心中制造了一種“斑比綜合征”。大多數物種的幼崽都是珍貴而可愛的，但愛撫、照顧它們的欲望，以及將野生動物馴化成寵物的想法是危險而不切實際的。這種做法不應提倡。甘作野生動物的觀察者則更明智。如果我們真的關心野生動物，就應該保護野生動物的野性，因為正是野性才使它們當中最適應環境者得以生存下去。
