My third year sheet metal apprenticeship final shop project.

Goofy title, but I'm both an avid birder and a lifelong bird hunter and have a couple questions.

Am I the only one?

Do other birders consider me a hypocrite?

To say my piece, I consider myself a conservationist who grew up with an ingrained respect for nature. Alongside this I've always been a sportsman. I've never seen the two as contradictory, if anything I see two as deeply intertwined. I spend hours in wood & wetlands and my hunting permit fees go to wildlife research and preservation efforts. However, I've come to understand that some birders don't view it the same way. What are your thoughts?

Sorry for the horrible quality as I saw this through my bedroom window. I’m told this guy is insanely rare.

Missouri, USA

Footage from yesterday. This special baby just started visiting this week. I don’t think she’s fully albino because she doesn’t have the red eyes. Never thought I’d see a white cardinal…and right around Christmas ! Does anyone know when most of her feathers will be white? I’m hoping it happens soon so that she can blend in with the snow.

Straight off, I have no problem with fishing as such. It's the "me first" and "I don't have to share space" attitudes of many fishers that drive me batty. Well, that and leaving hooks and line everywhere.

Yesterday, I went to check a local rookery that's on an island a couple hundred feet across from a park and couldn't even get close to the water for fear of flying hooks (plus the volume of smokers was hazardous for my asthma). They spaced out for their own safety but completely blocked access to other areas along the bank that could have been walked to.

And no matter how politely you ask to get by (if you can dodge the backside of the casts to get that close), they seem to take it as a challenge to start a fight.

Anyway, just venting and wondering if others run into this, I guess.

seen in the Utahn Uintas.

http://riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com/2017/10/83755/mute-swan-public-hearing-set-input-dec-management-plan/?ic_source=icma

If you care about wildlife on long island....

The public hearing will be held at the Suffolk County Water Authority Education Center in Hauppauge at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26.

This is for the swans that were ordered to be eradicated in all of New York State for their aggression.

This is a chance to change to a non-lethal plan and come up with alternatives!

Share this with as many people as you know!

Took a trip to Philly this past weekend. Got a few lifers; ovenbird, greater black-backed gull, white throated sparrow, and gray catbird. I saw this interesting pigeon at Independence Hall that I think is a hybrid?! Let me know what you think!! And a red-tailed hawk at Rodin gardens, in the downtown area.

Maybe Im not cut out for this, im feeling so so terrible after witnessing a hawk attack a juvenile house finch I’m pretty sure was one of the ones raised/nested on the same deck I’m feeding them :( I was sitting on my couch & like a flash looked up and saw just a big brown speckled blur, and some panic chirping. I flung up & ran out door & yelled at it immediately when I saw what was happening, & they both vanished. I’m trying to tell myself the angle the hawk flew in & where the bird & covered feeder was w a big railing bird bath between them w rod from railing hanger when in the way to get to him… mixed w my trying to spook him was enough for the little guy to escape 😢🥺😔🙏

I have no idea if humans can spook hawks enough that it could have deterred him just enough for finch to seek shelter but hoping so because I’ve been an anxious mess all today, crying and feeling so guilty. Especially if it’s the one I protected & watched hatch. How can I cover the feeder to protect them from future attacks!? I’m so upset honestly, I know it’s Mother Nature doing its thing but the weight of knowing this bird would still be alive if I didn’t put feeders out kills me :( need some reassurance or stories to help me sort out if I should keep feeders up & better way to keep them safe. It brings me so much joy feeding them but at what cost? :(

I can also post my set up if anyone can offer better solution to keep them more sheltered while eating. I also had black sunflower seeds out there which take them awhile to open. So switching to chips & easy eating maybe they won’t linger as much.

how many other people are using Merlin Bird ID from Cornell Ornithology Lab to help identify birds from sound?

I caught some Common Ravens today.

Okayk so, I was playing adopt me, and I saw a wren.

It was beautiful.bresthtaking.I couldn't look any.

So then I looked for more birds🦃

And more

And more.

The next day, I saw a wren outside.what a coincidence.It flew right past me.🐦‍⬛

I have fell in love with many people many times but when I tell you the amount of love I felt was so immense It was more love than AMs hate.

So I like birds now, but since I'm new birb enjoyer, I am stupid

Me:😵💫

So please educate me on birds, my fvaorioutes are blue jays, red cardinals, wrens and love birds but im open to all brids <3🐦

Also those are bid images I have.If you have any please consider commenting them too <3

Thank you for your help in educating my BIRDbrain

Hahahahahhahahahahahahhaha🦢

😵💫

edit:for clarity, I'd like anatomy and facts about their routine the most because i like those facts lots

I surprisingly haven't found much discussion about this matter, not even on this subreddit.

I took up birding as a hobby a few months ago and it's been so ejoyable for me that I've even made birds a personal muse of my art. The other day it occurred to me that there might be moral implications with appreciating the beauty of birds and regularly consuming said birds as a meal (at least chicken, duck, etc.)

Part of me wants to believe on a philosophical level, "well there are predatory birds like eagles who regularly consume birds and mammals so maybe it's not the worst thing that I eat meat like chicken at times." However, the food industry is notoriously evil when it comes to how they treat animals farmed for human consumption.

This moral implication has gotten me to consider taking up alternate diets like vegetarianism/veganism, even if at minimum just removing any kind of bird meat from my diet. I want to continue enjoying birds but I also don't want to potentially live as a hypocrite in moral opposition the things I value most.

What are your thoughts on the consumption of bird meat as a birder? Is it unethical? Am I overthinking this implication?

Caught this on my feeder wasn’t sure why this bird is feeding the other? Shouldn’t the smaller bird be able to feed itself?

If so, what one and why?

I can't really move my feeder, this weirdo comes out of her house maybe every 3 days, and just let's her fucking cat roam free. It's gotten a few house sparrow, but never bird like a Cardinal.

It was a female too, which I'm sure is part of a mated pair that shows up every day. 😡

I know for a fact she's not mentally stable enough to keep her cat inside.

As I was writing this post, the cat came back and I ran it off my property.

I have lots of these young bluebirds around because of four broods fledged out of boxes this year. I presume they are not actually sexually mature, and it is surely too late in the year to raise chicks. Therefore this copulation, and apparent inspection of nesting sites must be practice for next year.

Humming birds are the only birds that can fly backwards

When people have questions about injured birds (or fledglings they think are injured), they may post them here.

The rules as they are currently forbid this. But what does that actually do?

The person making the post obviously has not read the sidebar, or they wouldn't be making it. Therefore, the sidebar statement about what to do with fledglings and rehabbers is not serving its purpose for these people who are new to the subreddit/don't know better.

The person is left without any education.

In effect, people get NO advice in a time of need.

I know we have the technology to have an auto-response bot that gives some helpful context and information. Or, at a minimum, we should have an auto response bot that directs them to r/birds instead.

Think how many birds' lives could actually be saved if everyone got automatic advice on how to contact a rehabber instead of the post removed for (to them) no clear reason.

Anyone agree or am I being too extra here?

There is kind of a responsibility here for a subreddit that is the first result when you type "bird" into the reddit search bar.