Any bird fanciers out there? I used to have budgies as pets when I was a child, and like them a lot. They are amiable and funny little creatures. I had one that was so tame he'd just hop onto your finger and sit there quite happily.
Cute little chaps, eh?
http://www.animalanticsonline.com/items_images/1205690786budgie.jpg
I have a pet canary. Well my parents do. It looks a bit like this:
The one we had before the current one was hand tamed too. He would hop onto my dad's breakfast plate and eat breadcrumbs.
That's cool, I've never had a canary. That tame budgie I mentioned would sometimes jump off the top of his cage onto the dinner table and try to get food. They are supposed to like lettuce, but he would try anything, cake, biscuits, etc!
I like the Parrot at our local pet store. He tries to rub up against you when you pet him like a cat or dog would. He genuinely seems to like the attention of people.
Every other bird...not a fan.
I think birds are gregarious among their own kind, and also like the attention of people, once they realise they are not going to be harmed.
One problem with them that you don't get with cats and dogs is that they take a dump every few minutes, so they aren't going to replace cats and dogs when it comes to handling & petting.