THE BIRD THREAD - Post birds, discuss birds or even sniff birds.

How much do you love birds?


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Today I learned that Red Bellied Woodpeckers love digging through grass for seeds alongside brown thrashers and are terrified of cardinals to the point that the little red bastards chased him out of my yard before I could snap a picture with potato-phone (the cardinals've got their nest started in the woods on the other side of the fence, so the yard is 100% theirs now. Everything but the thrashers, the chickadees and the doves which are too stupid to know better are avoiding the feeder now on account of these wicked little buggers - even the mockingbirds are sticking to the front yard to avoid the ire of the cardinals).

Photo isn't mine, but bird is what showed up today.
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I saw crossbills eating out of a feeder from the window at a restaurant recently. A smallish flock was sitting in a pine tree digging in the cones and going over to the feeder for black seebs. Can't really mistake crossbills but I can't get Merlin to let me put them on my list! Computer moment.
 
One of my favorite things to do is watch the Common Grackle. They start to puff up their chests, slowly spread their tail feathers and open their wings just a bit, like a steam engine about to burst. Then they release the tension and make a trill sound.

It reminds me of teenagers trying to "flex themselves out" and it's so funny to see a flock of them all doing it one right after the other.

Puffy Grackle Bro
 
what order
Galliformes - grouse and turkeys and the like. Handsome, delicious animals. :D I also love kingfishers!

Last time I was in the mountains the cloud cover was pretty extensive so I couldn't see far but all around me I could hear stonechats making their clack clack sound. It was pretty uncanny. 10/10 would be weirded out by tiny dinosaurs again.

 
The most important questions to ask about birds are:

1) How old do birds get before they start becoming at risk of their heads falling off
2) What bird species does this most frequently occur in
3) Will taping it back on be an effective solution
4) If the answer to 3 is no then is it ethical to sell said bird with taped on head to an ignorant blind child for $25
5) If the answer to 4 is yes, should said $25 be used to buy fried chicken for dinner
 
The most important questions to ask about birds are:

1) How old do birds get before they start becoming at risk of their heads falling off
2) What bird species does this most frequently occur in
3) Will taping it back on be an effective solution
4) If the answer to 3 is no then is it ethical to sell said bird with taped on head to an ignorant blind child for $25
5) If the answer to 4 is yes, should said $25 be used to buy fried chicken for dinner
To answer your question simply: Cockatoos. As beings of pure chaotic energy their heads may fall off at any point in time and it will not affect them in the least. Some have even speculated it's how they reproduce. You could try taping it back on, but good chance the bird in question will just remove it again. If he's feeling whimsical two heads may drop off instead of one. So then you're stuck with two fully functional bird heads laughing at you while the body does whatever a headless cockatoo body usually does.

As to the ethics, that depends on whether or not you include the extra bird head. Most people would agree that two cockatoo heads (and the headless body) would be too much responsibility for a blind ignorant child, so keep the extra one and I think everybody would agree that it'll be fine.

It's fine to buy the fried chicken, but be sure to share with the extra head you kept, he'll get hungry too.
 
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