Big Bird Big Bird is an 8 - foot , 2 - inch yellow bird who lives on Sesame Street . Since " Sesame Street " premiered in 1969 , Big Bird has entertained millions of pre - school children and their parents with his wide - eyed wondering at the world . Big Bird is also a bird who makes friends easily . The world - famous bird has been a central character on " Sesame Street " for the program ' s run , premiering in the first episode . The big yellow bird can roller skate , ice skate , dance , sing , write poetry , draw , and even ride a unicycle — pretty talented for a character described in the TV show ' s writer ' s guide as a 6 - year - old . But despite this wide array of talents , he ' s prone to frequent misunderstandings , like thinking that the alphabet is one long word . Big Bird lives in a large nest behind 123 Sesame Street and next to Oscar ' s trash can , and he has a teddy bear named Radar . Big Bird helps children feel all right about not knowing everything because he himself does not know everything , and encourages them to inquire : a common Big Bird phrase in recent years has been " Asking questions is a good way of finding things out ! " He also teaches other life , alphabet , and numerical lessons : " I guess it ' s better to be who you are . Turns out people like you best that way , anyway . " For many years his best friend Mr . Snuffleupagus ( who Big Bird calls Snuffy ) was deemed as imaginary by the adults on Sesame Street . Every time Snuffy would visit , he would coincidentally leave just before the adults arrived . Despite not being believed by the adults , Big Bird continued to assert that Snuffy was real . In the early 1980s , a string of high - profile child sexual abuse cases caused Sesame Workshop ( then Children ' s Television Workshop ) to eliminate this running gag , fearing that children would take to heart the message that , if adults don ' t believe something out of the ordinary even when they are telling the truth , they ' d be just as well off to remain silent . Big Bird ' s closest human friendship , however , for many years was with storekeeper Mr . Hooper , who made his birdseed milkshakes . Big Bird ' s inability to say the storekeeper ' s name correctly ( most often rendered as " Mr . Looper " ) was a source of frustration , but they remained close . Big Bird took center stage on " Sesame Street " in the early 1980s , when the show dealt with the death of Mr . Hooper ( necessitated by the death of Will Lee , the actor who played the role ) . Big Bird got confused when he tried to go into Hooper ' s Store to give Mr . Hooper his drawing Big Bird made of and for him . The adults , including Maria , David , Bob , Susan , Gordon , Olivia and Luis tell Big Bird that Mr . Hooper is not coming back because he ' s dead , and when people die , they don ' t come back . ( " Ever ? " " No , never " ) Big Bird ' s realization that Mr . Hooper wasn ' t just gone temporarily , and Big Bird ' s acceptance of Mr . Hooper ' s death , have been hailed as a milestone in children ' s programming . Big Bird starred on the big screen in the 1985 film " Follow That Bird " , in which he is sent by Miss Finch , a bird social worker , to live with a foster family of Dodos . He soon runs away from his new home to get back to Sesame Street and he is kidnapped and dyed baby blue by two ratty carnival - owners . He also had a role in the feature film " The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland " and starred in the feature - length specials " Big Bird in China " and " Big Bird in Japan " . Big Bird also appeared in cameo roles in the films " The Muppet Movie " and " The Muppets Take Manhattan " and the television special " A Muppet Family Christmas " , and as a guest on " The Muppet Show " , plus a variety of outside TV appearances . Big Bird ' s species . Big Bird ' s precise species is unknown , and over the years , there have been varying explanations for his unusual size and appearance : Big Bird ' s family . Big Bird lives alone on Sesame Street , essentially adopted by the general neighborhood , with the adults often acting as stand - in parents ( in particular , Susan , Gordon and Maria ) . In " Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Hospital " , when the hospital receptionist asks if Maria is Big Bird ' s mother , she replies , " Not exactly . . . kind of . . . yes . " As a baby , Big Bird was raised by his Granny Bird and his aunt , Nani Bird . As he became more self - reliant , Big Bird moved out on his own , to his nest on Sesame Street . Granny Bird remains a part of his life , and he often visits her in the books . When Big Bird ' s nest was destroyed in a hurricane in 2001 , Big Bird called Granny for advice about building a new nest . There is also scattered evidence of other relations . In a 1971 episode , Big Bird receives a coat from his mommy in the mail , and he babysits for his sister ' s egg in a 1972 episode . He also mentions a mother , father , and sister in the song " Tall Enough " . It ' s unclear why Big Bird was raised apart from his nuclear family . Other relatives include the following : Additionally , the birds from several have been designated as cousins of Big Bird : Although Big Bird does know his family , in the book " Big Bird ' s Bedtime Story " , Luis tells Big Bird ' s back story , stating that a large egg was delivered to Hooper ' s Store one day , and the various residents of Sesame Street chose to build a nest for it and took care of it until it hatched . However , the story is probably not considered canon because it features a few characters who were not around when the series began ( such as David and Luis ) . Big Bird ' s age . The character was originally conceived as a kind of a yokel . It took most of the show ' s first season , but the writers and performers soon came to see Big Bird not as the " village idiot , " but as a curious child . Spinney described him as " He was the too - big kid , much as I had been the too - little kid when I was his age . I suggested that we think of him as a child first learning to read and learning the alphabet , like our audience . That made him about 4½ . " As Sesame Street ' s core audience has gotten younger , Big Bird has aged . " He ' s about 6 , " Spinney says , " arrested at 6 . " For years Big Bird ' s age has been frozen at a particular point — he ' s six years old in the 1985 film " Follow That Bird " , and still six in the 1989 special " " . Big Bird celebrated his sixth birthday ( again ) in the 1991 PBS pledge drive special " Big Bird ' s Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake " . Big Bird ' s birthday is March 20th . Performing Big Bird . The Big Bird performer is completely enclosed within the costume and extends his right hand over his head to operate the head and neck of the puppet . The Muppeteer ' s left hand serves as the Bird ' s left hand , while the right hand is stuffed and hangs loosely from a fishing line that runs through a loop under the neck and attaches to the wrist of the left hand . Occasionally , a second puppeteer operates the right hand in scenes where Big Bird moves both of his hands or holds a prop . When Spinney is performing on - location and cannot get a video feed on his television monitor , a hole is made in the bird suit to give Spinney the ability to see out in front of him . In these occasions , Big Bird wears a neck tie at all times to hide the hole . " Don ' t Eat the Pictures " , " Big Bird in China " and " Big Bird in Japan " are all examples of this . As Caroll Spinney has aged , new performers have been trained to play Big Bird . Matt Vogel has been Spinney ' s primary understudy for over 20 years , doubling as Big Bird for live appearances and in occasional " Sesame Street " segments . Vogel has sometimes puppeteered Big Bird to Spinney ' s voice , and other times performed the voice himself , most prominently in the show ' s Journey to Ernie segments . Other Big Bird puppeteers have included Rick Lyon for the opening theme song of the show ' s 20th , 25th , and 33rd seasons , Noel MacNeal for several Macy ' s Parades and a 2015 appearance on " The Tonight Show " , and Peter Linz for the " Number of the Day " song and Shakespeare in the Park . As of Season 46 , Caroll Spinney no longer performs Big Bird full - time . Vogel puppeteers the bird on - set most of the time , with Spinney either looping his dialogue later or reading off the script live in - sync with Vogel ' s puppetry , akin to Vogel ' s relationship with Jerry Nelson in his final years . Caroll Spinney was sick during the taping of a few first season episodes , so Daniel Seagren performed Big Bird in those episodes . He also performed Big Bird when he appeared on " The Ed Sullivan Show " in 1969 , and in a number of Sesame Street Cast Tours in 1970 . Jim Henson , who designed Big Bird , proved to be a possible candidate to perform the bird , as he was slender and over six feet tall . But Kermit Love , who built the costume , didn ' t think that he walked like a bird is supposed to walk . Henson then offered the part to Frank Oz , but since Oz hated performing full - body characters , he turned down the job . For years , Caroll Spinney had a policy of refusing to pose for photographs in half of the bird suit . He later explained why in an interview for " The New Yorker " : External links . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _