Birds

[Kimiko]

Do you notice birds around your home? Notice how some populations grow or decline over the years?

Back when I was a kid ('80s), house sparrows were so common that to call someone a sparrow meant they were boring. Since about the mid-90s however, sparrows have virtually disappeared in these parts. It's not like they're endangered or anything, they're plenty common still in other parts of Europe. They just don't seem to hang out here anymore. Weird phenomenon.

City pigeons are quite common in most cities, but the city I live in also has a thriving population of seagulls. Even though it isn't particularly close to the sea, about 20km inland. I'd bet most seagulls here have never been to sea. They live off discarded food and garbage, pecking open trash bags. Early morning on trash collection days I'd sometimes see a seagull pecking open a trash bag while a group of pigeons and crows were waiting their turn. They wouldn't be able to get at the trash by themselves. Lots of people find the seagulls annoying, but since birds are protected in Europe, nothing can be done about them really except telling people to use sturdier gull-proof trash bags and investing in collective containers where that's possible.

Since last year I've been noticing some parakeets around here. At first I thought they were escaped budgies and wondered if they would survive. It's been winter for a few months now though, almost time for spring, and they're still around. The other week I saw four parakeets. That's a little too many for escaped pets. I could believe one or two, but not four. And they're too large for regular budgies actually. I looked it up and it turns out feral ring-necked parakeets are becoming quite common in some European cities now. Tropical birds, here in the Netherlands, can you believe it? They're doing pretty well though. Who knows, maybe in a few years bright green birds will be more common than black or grey birds?

Are there interesting birds where you live?

[Wolfie]

I grew up in a small town, lotsa seagulls. Mom moved to the city, which has a harbor. Seagulls. Dad moved to an island. More gulls. Then mom moved closer to the harbor. gulls gulls gulls.

Then dad moved again, this time coming even closer to the sea. Surprisingly few gulls around there. Lotsa sheep.

Now I live in the middle of the country and theres no seagulls. Every time I go back to the city where mom used to live (she's since moved to the next island over from where dad used to live - so seagulls) I like to take walks and look at the and the seagulls. I've always liked seagulls.

(word count "gull": 11)

[Reynard-Miri]

[Kimiko]

Who?

[Reynard-Miri]

A youtube group/company/thing headquartered in the UK. They have some annoying seagulls near their building. Apparently they are audible during some of the videos?

[PLA]

Row of trees by the railroad outside my window is hangout to hundreds of mostly corvids and pigeons.
They can shroud sight; stifle sound. Shaking, chirping, black sky.

Smaller trees and shrubbery by the road has littler birds.

[Hong]

Out of the city, you can find prairie chickens. Used to appear in the city as well, but not as often these days. Used to love chasing them around as a kid.

[noodles]

We used to have a much broader variety of birds, but as the climate's gone dryer, a lot of them have moved north. Orioles, gold finches, jays. Most of those don't show up. We've also seen other things move in. We used to have these little green hummingbirds that have been displaced by little red hummingbirds that are a whole lot more territorial, fighting off even hawks and stuff that otherwise would be their predators. We've also had a few kinds of parrots move in, mostly conures/parakeets but also larger things like amazons. The climate here can support any kind of tree, so it also can support pretty much any fruit or seed feeding bird that escapes captivity. There are lots of little sparrows and finches that build nests partially out of pet hair they find in back yards.

There are tons of crows and ravens that band together to chase off hawks. The biggest flying thing we commonly get around my neighborhood is vultures, though the lakes and shores have herons and pelicans. Lots of interesting ducks and geese too, and cormorants that pretty much devour every fish in a pond. There's plenty of seagulls, but like some of you have been said, they're even more common in the city. Kinda weird seeing something with webbed feet that may be will never swim in its life.

[Maxine MagicFox]

I dunno what kinds of birds I have in my area (I'd confess that I prolly wouldn't know a robin from a bluejay). Birds have never held particular interest for me. "that's a bird" "that's an owl" "and that stupid thing I hear that just woke me up is a woodpecker" (I've no idea what one looks like) but that's how my mind words. It's either an owl, eagle, hawk, a crow, or a bird.

Not that I don't enjoy the sounds that they make. I have a family of birds taht live in our huge pine tree outside my window. It's a love hate relationship. Some mornings I don't mind being woken up by their chirping or playing on my ac. Other mornings.... I have fond images of that movie scene in Steel Magnolias that involved crossbows, fireworks, and birds... and a gun.

[Sigma]

Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawks, Bald Eagles, Vultures, Sandhill Cranes*, Pigeons, Crows, Mocking Birds, Woodpeckers, Seagulls, Pelicans, and the occasional Cardinal (only around Spring/Summer though). We have a lot more than just that list, but that's off the top of my head.

*Probably the most aggressive bird I've come across... Which is telling since Canadian Geese can get very aggressive and can form an attack squadron. However, those don't compare to a bird that can be at your chest level (as a 5"11 individual) with a pretty sizable pointed beak that can cause some serious goring damage. It's totally understandable as to why they can be aggressive though and for that I do tend to give them a pass over Canadian Geese.

[Archaic Sage]

Are evil.

That is all.

[Kimiko]

Evil? Sounds like there's a story behind that sentiment

[Archaic Sage]

I have pretty severe ornithophobia. It's improved in recent years, so I can now walk past birds in a cage but it used to be so bad I wouldn't even go in petshops.

It stretches to all feathered birds, with or without flight.

Stems back to when I was a very small kid (4 or 5 I guess) when I was at a nature park and ran into some nesting geese who went mental, I then ran away and into a roaming turkey. Since then, that's it. Fear.

Even pigeons and ducks.

[noodles]

i heard that ornithophobia (or maybe fear of all things that fly overhead) is an inherant thing because monkeys were mainly eaten by eagles back in the day. back in the day meaning 15 million years ago or whatever