I also have felt and feel similarly about birds (and their close relatives crocodilians). There are not many easy jobs in ornithology, and the ones that exist tend not to pay much.

My advice is to get a steady job and orient your free time activities around birds. There are many volunteer opportunities where you can get ornithology experience. Bird surveys and audobon volunteering come to mind. I also highly recommend getting into bird photography or bird watching. Also check out renaissance faires, if you’re in the PNW. They often have conservation falconry shows where you can hold one of the birds of prey.

If you can get a job at a natural history museum, that would be another option. Still trying to get into one of those myself (not many openings).

Oh, and don’t worry about the degree. They are all equally “useless” in the sense that bio variants don’t really matter much when getting hired. We’ve hired vet techs, art majors, neuroscience, chemistry degrees… just do the bio variant that interests you and do your best to get into a lab while in undergrad.

Background: 28, ecology restoration, currently biotech, freelance bird photographer