I have to admit, I'm just not seeing the problems you guys are. Flying ahead to scout? What you never have players with familiars? It's been so long that we didn't have a flying drone scout that I forget what it's like. So, I show the maps to the players. It lets them then make informed decisions instead of blundering in blindly into encounter after encounter. Fantastic. I love the fact that the players get so engaged in the game rather than, "Oh, look, we blundered into this dangerous monster yet again, roll for initiative". A flyer lets me info dump on the party and that's a good thing.
And, why are flying creatures so different from any other non-human? It's not like Aarocockra are particularly alien in their outlook or anything like that. They really are just humanoids that can fly. It's not like they're virtually immortal - remembering past lives with perfect clarity - gender fluid faeries. Same with the owl folk character in my current game. I wouldn't actually expect it to be terribly different from any other PC. Different yes, and race should matter, I agree. But, "exotic"? How are they any more exotic than any other PC race?
Now, the Lucidling - the flying dream creature created by an Aboleth? Now THAT'S exotic. And it's played as such.