It’s your local schizo-ornithologist, TED_SIMP, and i’m here to tell you why you should all try BIRDWATCHING.
“what the frick?” you might ask, clacking away on r/loveforlandlords and r/antihatecommunities, “that sounds fricking r-slurred. i hate TED_SIMP!” that’s fair. but Hear Me Out.
did your doctor tell you you need to lose that extra 300 lbs? birding will get you some exercise!
want to spy on your hot stacy neighbor without actually being a creep? just say you’re birdwatching!
want to be the biggest nerd in your friend group, AND the biggest neurodivergent? check!
birding is one of the cheapest hobbies out there. if you want equipment, all you need is binoculars and a camera. maybe some audio recording if you’re REALLY into it. bug spray might help. all these bitches complain about being bored. you dumb frick, there’s birds RIGHT outside your window. there’s a lot of good apps for it too. ebird shows you hotspots where all the cool birds are found, so it does all the work for you. merlin bird ID gives you a quiz to id what you saw, and birdNET analyzes all those random screeches you hear at three am and you just want some goddarn sleep.
i took ornithology last spring. i thought the bird walks were going to be r-slurred. we ALL did. but minutes into our first walk, even the most bored of us all were really getting into it. i love getting high, im an idiot who needs instant dopamine. finding a new species is a weirdly good dopamine booster. the community is super wholesome too, newbies welcome.
and once you get into it, you can see some pretty cool things. ravens play fetch with each other. killdeer fake broken wings when you get too close to their nest. some birds mimic each other, and some like to come out and investigate people. they have cool ways of interacting with each other too. tufted titmice will take turns at a feeder, while sparrows will fight to the death. for such stupid seeming little animals, theyre actually incredibly smart and interesting to watch once you get the hang of it.
gonna page my fellow rdrama user and elite birdwatcher @CRUSTY for more insight. he’s better than I am
Seriousposting Over, go find some birds!!!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Birds are cool. I took up squirrel-watching during my Covid-related downtime last summer. They’re pretty smart and if you feed them they’ll remember you. They always harass me now because I’m “the peanut guy”. It was fun to watch a whole generation of those buggers grow up.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
squirrels are fun to watch too, especially when they’re hiding caches. there was a really cool study done on Scrub Jays, who also cache food for the winter. The jays were sorted into two groups: theiving (stole from other caches) and honest (did not steal). The jays would watch a random jay at its cache. After watching, the theiving jays would relocate their OWN cache (NOT the jay’s being watched) because they knew that if they would steal from the bird’s cache, that bird might steal from them. The honest birds left their own cache alone because they knew that since they didn’t steal, other birds wouldn’t steal from them (not true obviously). So it shows that the jays displayed self awareness, they knew that they were being bad by stealing, and knew that other birds might also be bad too.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
That is really cool. There are some mockingbirds nesting in the small trees along the sidewalk in my neighborhood and they always attack me when I walk by. I wish they would develop a moral compass. My early morning dog walks involve too much panicked running.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
there’s probably nest nearby that they’re defending! mockingbirds are pretty smart, they won’t attack for no reason
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I’m sure that’s why. The trees are only about 14’ tall, so I get pretty close to the nests just by walking by. I try to avoid eye contact and walk faster, but it doesn’t help 😭
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
yeah, they can be pretty ruthless
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I’ve been walking under a mud nest in the parking garage every day for a while and I always admire it, so I thought I’d take a picture and share it. I think swallows made it. It’s the first mud nest I’ve ever seen and I think it’s the coolest
https://i.ibb.co/cTLScjF/43dde3b959de.webp
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
that’s so cool, I love that!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Goes to show what a cursed planet we live on where even the woodland creatures are not safe from betrayal
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context