Catching wild birds?

[Ricalynn]

This is some pictures of my Lilac while she was hunting.   I got the crow and thought it would be great for the Goths.



Then this Macaw decided it didn't want to play.

Sorry it's a little dark but this is the best I could lighten it.

[MomOfMany]

Birds can be found using the Collection Helper, which is a huge help.  My Sim was able to catch a Catalina Macaw with no problem.  What I noticed is that the Befriend option appears sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't.  For example, the first time I clicked on a bird, the befriend option was there, but I didn't take it.  I just chose watch.  Once my Sim had done that, I clicked the bird again and the Befriend option was gone and it never reappeared even after 5 or 6 Watches.  On the other 3 birds she's caught, if the Befriended option was there, I took it.  She hasn't failed to Befriend one yet, although I really haven't tried that many yet.

I wonder if that is some sort of glitch or something that we just haven't figured out yet! Or maybe just totally random which seems a little strange!

[Joria]

I wonder if it depends on how many animals you have in your house?  I have a cat, (adopted and very needy!), an Amazon yellow throat, a Macaw, and three different turtles.  We had the falcon but I simply could not stand seeing such a wonderful wild bird confined so we set it free.  When you add 6 animals and 4 Sims that doesn't leave a lot of room in a house.  What is the limit of total living beings being able to be in your household?  That might be what prevents you from befriending other birds.  I noticed all the wild animals you catch like to bite when you play with them.  (Oh, and I forgot we also have a shrew)

[Ricalynn]

You can have 8 Sims, 6 large pets (dogs/cats/horses) and as many minor pets (birds, turtles, rodents, snakes, lizzards) as you can care for.

At one point, I had 2 Sims and 10 minor pets.   It was a bit hectic.

[MomOfMany]

I only have 1 sim and now 1 horse! But I am pretty sure that EA confirmed before Pets came out that the same pets like that didn't count at all toward your house limit but either way that is not the problem because I am not near the max which is 8 sim and 6 pets but no more than 10 total? So like 4 sims and 6 pets or 6 sims and 4 pets!

[Babbaroni]

One of my Sims saw a spotted sixam in the center of town in Monte Vista the other day and was able to catch it.  Maybe they have to be an animal expert?  They had it as a pet until I played another family for a few minutes and came back and it was just gone. 

That's it Salty! That was the other bird I saw! I could only watch it! Strange because I only have watch available for the falcon as well, but others are able to catch it! Maybe you just need to have caught a lot of other animals before you are able to catch that one!