Jerome, I do agree that there is a colloquial tendency to be more specific when we are speaking about certain kinds of animals, so we say "birds" rather than animals if all the animals in question were birds, and the same kind of thing happens with frogs and insects. When it comes to mammals, though, we tend to say "animals" instead of mammals. But I think this is a mere tendency to use the specific term, and doesn't mean that people don't think of birds and frogs as animals as well.
Oddly enough, the few dictionaries I have consulted do not explore any of these issues in their definitions of animals. Whlle some allow that people will often use "animal" as distinct from "human being," even though humans are technically animals, I haven't found any that suggest "animal" is an unacceptable colloquial term for non-mammal creatures.
But I agree with you to a certain extent. I'd hate to think that when people tell me I have "animal magnetism," the animal they are referring to is a cockroach.
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