How to Overcome Fear of Birds

Co-authored by William Gardner, PsyD

Last Updated: January 10, 2023 References

Ornithophobia is an irrational and overwhelming fear of birds in which no real danger is present. The fear provokes anxiety and possibly behavior to avoid birds.^{[1]
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Trustworthy Source
Mayo Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
Go to source} You may experience terror or dread, and have physical symptoms of anxiety such as rapid heartbeat and sweating, and you may experience feelings of powerlessness when around birds.^{[2]
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Trustworthy Source
Mayo Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
Go to source} If your fear of birds keeps you from going to work in the morning or causes you to take the longest route possible to avoid seeing birds, then your fear affects your functioning life, and you should consider getting help, such as self-exposure or seeking treatment from a professional.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Preparing a Strategy to Overcome Your Fear

1
Learn about exposure therapy. The most effective way to begin dismantling your fear of birds is by exposure to them. The goal of exposing yourself to birds is to gradually decrease your fearful reactions through prolonged contact.^{[3]
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Research source} Research shows that exposure therapy—in its different forms—is highly effective for phobias.^{[4]
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Research source} There are different types of exposure therapy, and the approach often starts with less fear-inducing steps.^{[5]
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Research source} Exposure therapies that can help with your phobia (often in conjunction) include:^{[6]
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- Imaginal exposure - This entails closing your eyes and imagining birds or a situation where you are around birds in vivid detail.
- In vivo exposure - This type of exposure means facing the fear in real life. In this case, you would actually have to be around birds.
2
Think about why you’re afraid of birds. Most phobias are a “conditioned” response, meaning that you learned it from an outside source. You weren’t born afraid of birds. Spend some time exploring the roots of your ornithophobia.
- It might be helpful to keep a journal, as writing thoughts down makes you process the information more slowly and thoroughly.
- Recount your earliest fearful memory of birds. Was there a particular experience that triggered a life-long phobia?
- Were you always afraid of birds? If not, recall some positive or neutral memories you have of birds, before they became a source of anxiety for you.
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3
Detail your triggers. As uncomfortable as it will be, you won’t be able to manage your stress and move beyond it until you fully understand the anatomy of your fear.^{[7]
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Research source} What are the particular characteristics of birds that cause you the most anxiety? Some common triggers for ornithophobia include:^{[8]
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- That they swoop down from above
- The way they flutter their wings
- Their gait when walking on the ground
- A fear of diseases they might carry
- The way they approach humans looking for food scraps
4
Create a hierarchy of your phobia. Creating a hierarchy will give you a roadmap to getting rid of your fear of birds. It is simply a list of steps regarding birds starting with options you find least frightening and ending with steps you find most frightening. Your personal hierarchy will be unique to you based on the specific birds you may fear or your unique triggers. Remember that you are the expert of your experience of fear, so create a hierarchy that is useful to you. Your hierarchy can also serve as your way to monitor your progress as you move from one level to the next of exposure therapy. Here is an example of a hierarchy for fear of birds:^{[9]
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- Draw a picture of a bird
- Look at black and white photos of a bird
- Look at color photos of a bird
- Watch videos of birds without sound
- Watch videos of birds with sound
- Look at birds in the backyard with binoculars
- Sit outside where birds might be
- Visit a bird exhibit at the zoo or in a pet shop
- Take part in a controlled bird petting or feeding exhibit
- Care for a friend’s pet bird
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Familiarize yourself with a discomfort scale. Another useful tool for measuring your progress is a discomfort scale. A discomfort scale is used to monitor your level of discomfort during each exposure.^{[10]
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Research source} It gives you a baseline reading for how your fear hierarchy affects you at each step, as well as showing when you might be ready to move on to the next level of your hierarchy as you begin becoming less fearful of earlier steps. Consider a discomfort scale where:^{[11]
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- 0-3: At zero, you are completely at ease, and at a three, you feel mild anxiety that is noticeable but in no way affecting your functioning.
- 4-7: At four, the mild anxiety has started to make you slightly uncomfortable, and at seven, you are quite anxious with the feeling beginning to affect your ability to focus and function in the situation.
- 8-10: At eight, you are very anxious and cannot concentrate due to the exposure, and at ten, you would be on the verge of—or already having—a panic attack.
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Decide the pace at which to move through your hierarchy. In addition to types of exposure therapy, you can also decide a pace for your therapy. Two common paces at which to administer the exposure include:^{[12]
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- Graded exposure - This method is much more common and entails slowly making your way up your hierarchy and advancing only as previous rungs of the ladder lose their ability to produce a fearful response. You will typically advance to the next step of your hierarchy when the current one produces a level on your discomfort scale of zero to three.
- Flooding - This is when the person starts at the top of the hierarchy with the item to which he or she feels the most discomfort. If you are interested in this method, you should probably do it with the direction of a therapist rather than on your own.
7
Familiarize yourself with relaxation techniques.^{[13]
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Research source} Since working your way through your hierarchy is bound to produce some stress responses, it can also help you to learn some relaxation techniques to calm yourself during your exposures. Being able to quiet your mind, focus on your breathing, and concentrate on relaxing your muscles might mean the difference between a panic attack and an exposure that reduces down to a seven on your discomfort scale.
- You can find more information on how to stay calm during your exposures at How to Calm Down.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Overcoming Your Fear of Birds

1
Expose yourself to the first item at the bottom of your hierarchy. For most people, the very bottom on their hierarchies will be in the realm of imaginal exposure.^{[14]
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Research source} Start by simply closing your eyes and imagining a bird.
- Remember that your hierarchy is unique to you. Your phobia may be such that imaginal exposure produces a zero discomfort scale response, whereas someone else may have to start by imagining a cartoon bird because a real one would produce an eight of their scale.
2
Continue through the imaginal exposure parts of your hierarchy. As simply picturing various birds begins registering only a zero to three on your discomfort scale, continue through the parts of your hierarchy that qualify as imaginal. Additionally, try to describe the events you’re imagining aloud in the present tense to help make the experience more real.^{[15]
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Research source} You might picture, for instance:
- Contextualize the birds by picturing them on the telephone line outside your house or on your back fence.
- Imagine yourself in the situation, such as at a park with birds twenty feet away.
- Picture yourself feeding bread to ducks or geese at a local pond.
- Finally, imagine yourself actually handling the pet bird of a friend.
- Keep coming back to the imaginal exposure on your hierarchy until it produces a minimal fear response.
- If your particular hierarchy has watching a video of a bird placed lower than imagining yourself handling a bird, you can still do it in that order. You don’t have to tackle all of the imaginal exposures first if that’s not how your hierarchy is organized. Ask yourself honestly what order makes the most sense for you.
3
Expose yourself to the virtual items on your phobia hierarchy. For most people, the virtual exposures to birds will be further up the hierarchy can the imaginal ones. Once you can imagine birds and yourself around birds with little to no effect, then begin exposing yourself to the next set of fears on your hierarchy. Virtual exposures to bird that produce a fear response may include:^{[16]
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- Drawing birds (first rough drawings and small birds and later detailed pictures of larger birds)
- Looking at photos of birds (first in black and white and then in color)
- Listening to recorded birdsong
- Watching videos of birds (first without sound then with sound)
- Remember to keep a close inventory of your level on your discomfort scale for each step. Your goal is to reduce it to no more than a three (and hopefully a zero) for each virtual bird exposure.
4
Try your first in vivo (real life) exposure. The top items on your hierarchy are most likely the real experiences with real birds. Once you’ve mastered imaginal and virtual exposure to birds, try the in vivo exposure that you believe will produce the least fearful response. This could be as simple as using a pair of binoculars to look at a live bird out your window (from the safety of being inside).^{[17]
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- As you begin acclimating to watching the live bird—registering a zero to three discomfort response—then try opening the window through which you’re looking.^{[18]
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Watch a bird from an open door. After the open window no longer produces a strong effect, then try taking the next step—in this case, a literal step out your door. Walk outside while watching the nearby bird. Note the distance from your door that generates a response higher than a three on your discomfort scale and pause there. Watch from there until you begin to feel the fear ease away and take a few more steps. Consistently move closer to the bird while monitoring your comfort level.^{[19]
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Work through the higher in vivo exposures on your hierarchy. The top items on your hierarchy will ultimately depend on your specific phobia, as well as the degree to which you want to overcome it. Your ultimate goal may be to walk past a group of pigeons without panicking while someone else might want to be able to handle a friend’s bird without anxiety. Proceed up the remainder of the points along your hierarchy by exposing yourself to each progressive one until your discomfort scale response is a three or lower.
- If you find that you run into snags, remember that you can always amend your hierarchy. For instance, maybe being around your friend’s uncaged parrot no longer bothers you, but the thought of handling the large bird still produces an eight on your discomfort scale. Try having the friend accompany you to a pet store and see about holding a much smaller bird, such as a parakeet.
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Consider therapist-directed exposure. If you run into roadblocks between rungs of your hierarchy that you can’t figure out how to grade in the right way—or even if you simply want to try exposure therapy under the direction of a professional—then consider seeing a therapist who specializes in helping those with phobias. In addition to helping you find the best way to arrange and approach your hierarchy, a therapist can also provide steps for what is called “systematic desensitization.” This process combines graded exposures with learned relaxation exercises under the guidance of your therapist.^{[20]
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- In addition, a therapist can help you learn cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, in which you will learn how your thought processes reinforce your fear of birds. By doing this, you can be more aware of your fear-inducing (yet irrational) thoughts, and you can cognitively alter them before they produce the fearful response during exposures.^{[21]
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- Research has shown that self-exposure is successful, but that therapist-directed exposure is more successful. One study showed that 63 percent of those who did self-exposure maintained their progress while 80 percent of those who had a therapist maintained their progress.^{[22]
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  Research source} So if you’ve had difficulty overcoming your fear on your own, then make sure you look into therapist-directed methods.

Expert Q&A

Question

Is it normal to be scared of birds?

William Gardner, PsyD
Clinical Psychologist
William Gardner, Psy.D. is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice located in San Francisco, CA’s financial district. With over 10 years of clinical experience, Dr. Gardner provides individually tailored psychotherapy for adults using cognitive behavioral techniques, to reduce symptoms and improve overall functioning. Dr. Gardner earned his PsyD from Stanford University in 2009, specializing in evidence-based practices. He then completed a post-doc fellowship at Kaiser Permanente.

William Gardner, PsyD

Clinical Psychologist

Expert Answer

It can be normal, yeah. Generally, fears come from a negative experience and anyone can have those. That said, birds are not really a common trigger, since we've been programmed to fear certain things more, such as snakes, spiders, heights, etc. But if you had any negative experience with birds, it's reasonable to fear them.

Warnings

If your phobia does not go away, and/or has become extremely overpowering, consider seeing a doctor or talking to a therapist. In addition to offering professionally guided options for overcoming your fear, a professional may also be able to prescribe anxiety medication to help make the exposure therapy process less stressful.

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