The bird-watcher who asked about the distinction between an aviary and a rookery sent us flying after information to explain what separates a home of one's own making from what might be considered a home built by contractors.
Aviary names "a house, enclosure, or large cage used for confining any type of live birds." Such confinement is instituted by humans for the purposes of studying, exhibiting, or appreciating birds; the word aviary has its origin in "avis," Latin for "bird." In contrast, a rookery is the creation of its users: it refers to "the nests or breeding place of a colony of rooks, or a breeding ground or common haunt of other gregarious birds or mammals." As you might have guessed, rookery has its origin in the gregarious—and reputedly thieving—Old World bird called a "rook."

By the way, there's no connection between the "rook" that flies at more than thirty miles per hour and the chess piece "rook" which is moved either vertically or horizontally to any unobstructed square along the rank or file on which it is placed on a chessboard. The chess piece "rook," once known as a castle, migrated into English via Arabic from Persian.

I'm just plain simple folk...but to my mind...which isn't much, really...an aviary would be something people build for birds, and a rookery is BUILT by birds...
Obviously, I didn't look anything up!