Fact check: Can you catch birds in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an expansive experience full of varied, engaging activities. Nearly everything players could want in a life sim is accounted for here. Besides farming and making new friends, players can also run around the map trying to catch a variety of creatures.

In keeping with tradition, various insects and aquatic life are available for fans to catch. However, players have also noticed birds in and around their islands, wondering if they can be caught in the same way.

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Is it possible to catch birds in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

While players may want a pet bird, it is not currently possible. The yellow birds in the game are purely cosmetic and are meant to enhance attention to detail. If one tries to approach them, they will quickly fly away. Since we're on the subject of pets, there are no cats or dogs. But this constraint makes sense as the game's NPCs are anthropomorphic creatures, including birds like the eagle Apollo.

Others range from dogs and raccoons to cats and otters, which has always been the norm for the series. Even though the game has received countless updates since its launch in March 2020, this scenario will likely not change for the foreseeable future.

As mentioned before, the only available options are different kinds of insects and fish. On that note, they do not have a villager equivalent in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This lack of an option also makes sense since fishing and bug catching are popular activities around the globe, while that is not the case with birds.

Instead, players can catch a fish or insect, showcase it in a small container, and decorate their home with it. Otherwise, they can either be sold in shops (such as Nook's Cranny) in exchange for Bells (the key currency of Animal Crossing: New Horizons) or donated to the museum.

The latter effort also expands the players' Critterpedia with new details regarding the caught fish and insects. Details include not just dimensions and habitual data about the animal but also interesting information about its characteristics.

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What kind of fish and insects can be caught in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

The insect side of things features a ton of butterflies, like the popular Peacock and Monarch butterflies. Bettles also occupy a decent chunk of the list, like the Goliath Bettle, Jewel Bettle, and the Giant Stag. Other creepy crawlies also make the cut, like centipedes and spiders. Do watch out for the latter, as well as scorpions.

Underwater life is more varied, ranging from goldfish and salmon to exotic options like sunfish and coelacanth. Great white, Hammerhead, and Whale sharks are also accounted for, although they are pretty rare. Other creatures include squids, eels, and even simpler life forms such as anemones, oysters, and starfish, and many of them can be cooked.

The acclaimed life sim game was released on March 20, 2020, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch hybrid console.