Natty Bird, Melissa's cockatiel.

Natty Bird's avatar on Bird eClub.

My hand hurts because I’ve spent the past half an hour trying to re-create a cockatiel as my bird avatar on the BirdChannel.com. I tried different colors and beaks and body types, even wings. I just can’t get them to look even a little bit as good as my birds. My colors aren’t quite right, and every size I try make the birds look slightly bizarre. I guess that is part of the fun. However, I still can’t help but try to for perfection with my bird avatars.

This reminds me of an article I read in the LA Times this past weekend about female celebrities and all the work they are having done to try and look younger. They could look younger, I don’t know or care. All I care about is that they just no longer look like themselves and, that, I don’t like. We all fall in love with the person or animals, wrinkles and all. We like the natural beauty with the soul shining through via personality. I don’t understand why these people are driven to looking in the mirror at a stranger. My best friend was in a car accident when she was in college and had to have plastic surgery on her eyes and nose because of the damage. To this day she hates looking at herself in the mirror. The plastic surgery was great and she still looks pretty. But she loves her different nose and eyes, not the “perfect” nose and eyes they gave her.

Manmade is not always better. So although these bird avatars are fun and challenging to do, they will never be as beautiful or as wonderful as my Natty and Carlisle. They just are too one dimensional.

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Reader Comments

Where do you find out how to use the avatar editor? I can get into it, I created my bird but now I am attempting to make changes and they don't work. Please post help or where to go to get it, I feel like an idiot. DJ, Dover, DE Posted: 6/16/2011 4:11:13 AM Love this little article, "Manmade Is Not Better". Hear hear to Natty, Carlisle, and their extremely grounded human! Joy, Baldwin, WI Posted: 8/6/2009 9:11:40 AM the avatar is GREAT! none of mine look like my birds but i did have fun doing it!! stephanie, no smithfield, RI Posted: 6/25/2008 6:45:06 AM I like the Avatar. I wish there could be more capacity and detail. I like drawing so this is a funky type of drawing. Maria, San Juan, PR Posted: 5/6/2008 12:37:12 AM

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