Here's the website for your nearest Audubon Society: http://www.scvas.org/index.php? Audubon is a great way to get involved in the local bird community. They have lots of free birding field trips and other events (some free and some not). The Birding section at http://www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=birding has more information. Have fun exploring it and see if there's something you'd like to try to talk your family into. Maybe you can even bargain with them: "If I get an A on this test, can I go to this event?" Then study your brains out lol.

The biggest problem with wild-bird stuff is that most of it starts at the crack of dawn, because the birds are most active in the first two hours after sunrise. Until you're old enough to drive you'll have to rely on adults for transportation, and most adults don't want to spend their day off getting up that early (can't blame them for that). But once you have wheels there are lots of places where you can volunteer or participate. Besides the places I already mentioned, zoos use a lot of volunteers. You could even volunteer at a vet office. They won't necessarily let you work directly with the animals since they don't want to get sued if you get hurt. But you can at least see what it's like to work there and talk to people about their jobs.

Wildlife rehabilitators are another great option. It's probably better as a volunteer activity than as full-time work, since the responsibilities are heavy and the pay is pretty much non-existent. I've been wanting to volunteer with a wildlife rehabilitator for several years now but I've been too busy with other activities to squeeze it in. Maybe I'll go for it this fall after the bird-banding season ends. Animal shelters use a lot of volunteers too.

I remember I got a minor scratch by Blizzard on my thumb and he's a stray so that means he didn't get any shots but I didn't get sick.

Wow jobs..so many choices..I might be a vet or well something like that because I don't want to leave my pets alone at home for hours.

I also remember I got an honor roll few days ago and my mom asked me what I wanted and I didn't think clearly so I just said cat I was just joking around though but my mom said no anyway and left the room.

LOL fractions of budgies that poop on her head good idea umm how bout pigeons too.

I'm trying to do all these for my pets, good grades for good jobs working with animals so I have experience with animals.
( I might not be an avian or exotic vet)

-cat(s)
-betta fish
-budgie
~maybe a rat or mouse but unlikely..

Figure out something that you really want, then tell your mom you were joking about the cat. Maybe she'll say yes this time! You made the honor roll and that pleases your parents, so it's a good time to make reasonable requests.

Some vets take their pets to work with them. A couple of years ago I sold one of my cockatiel babies to a vet tech and she kept him at work for a couple of months. There were other animals running around the office that belonged to employees. You have a lot of time to decide what you want to do, and in the meantime you can just sort of keep your eyes open and think about it from time to time. You have to apply to colleges during your senior year in high school, so that's the main decision time.

Watch out, the career choice issue is about to get more complicated! If not wanting to leave your pets at home is important to you, one option is to look for a job that lets you telecommute - work from home with your computer linked to your employer's computer network. This is the electronic age and there are more and more jobs where you can do this. This website has a list of some of the jobs that are best suited for it: http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/findaw ... g-jobs.htm

It takes a lot of self-discipline to telecommute. Where you're at a business location, there aren't too many things to do besides working, and your boss and co-workers can see you and know whether you're working or not. At home there are a lot of other things you could do and there's no one watching you but your family. I telecommute sometimes and I tend to start working about two hours later than I wanted to. But once I finally get started it's better than working at the office because there's less noise and distraction at home than there is at work.

Telecommuting also gives you more flexibility about what time you want to work. Offices usually want you there during a specific time period, typically 8 to 5. If you'd rather work in the afternoon and evening and do other stuff in the morning (like birding lol) you can do it with telecommuting. It also saves time because you can be ready to work as soon as you boot up your computer - you don't have to spend a lot of time fixing yourself up to look nice and then driving to and from the office.

Yep, it's complicated alright! When I meant by
"leaving my pets at home" I meant like not at home alone for too long like half the day.A few hours like 6 I guess would be okay like
8:15 - 2:30 or 3:00 is pretty good amount of time away from home.
Mon-Sun Closed Sat.

ps a bit off topic: I'm stuck with kaylee's taming process, i got her to eat out of my finger but not stepping up on my finger without her getting into ready to bite mode...Today i tried to do it and i wrapped toilet paper around my index finger and put my finger into the cage at first kaylee was scared so i tighten it around my finger a bit and tried again..This time, Kaylee was stripping the toilet paper haha

Try holding the treat so she has to put one foot on your hand to reach it. Then shift it a little further so she has to put both feet on your hand to reach it. Once she gets used to stepping on your hand this way she'll be less worried about hands, and you can work on requesting step ups without a bribe.

Once I tried holding it in her face but out of her reach because I was teasing her but then instead she ignored it or jumped on to another perch closer to the treat. XD But I'll try it NOW! and I'll type the result later...

If she moves closer to the treat you're making progress! It might take a while before she actually has the nerve to put her foot on your hand. Let her have a bite just for coming closer; if you reward progress it will lead to more progress, but if you insist on something she isn't ready for she might give up.

She always move closer to the treat! Even when I'm giving it to SUnshine! I'm like," No, not yet you'll get yours after him".Haha sometimes Kaylee will attack Sunshine for the treat.

PS last night when I checked on them and Kaylee sneezed and I saw some liquid as if she was showing a symptom : nasal discharge! EEk I'm worried! And my parents won't let me take them to the vet! I also recall a vet opening soon and I hope it treats birds as well but I don't think so because the billboard had a picture of a dog,cat and some other little animals I didn't notice.. BTW if she is sick what can I do what med?? and she's in contact with Sunshine so that can make him sick too!

She's probably OK, actually. Birds have a slit in the roof of their mouth called the choana and it contains mucus. When birds sneeze, sometimes some of this mucus gets blown out. If you saw mucus running out of her nostrils, that would be a symptom of illness. But it's normal to blow out a little "birdie snot" during a sneeze. Which helps to give you a "yuck" feeling when the bird is sitting on your shoulder and does a wet sneeze all over your neck.

It's good that she's so motivated by treats. This gives you more power over her mwah ha ha ha ha.