• MedicsOfAnarchy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    57
    ·
    9 months ago

    About a year ago I downloaded an app called Merlin. You can let it listen and it’ll identify all the birds around you by their calls. I’ve found myself rushing outside with my phone if I hear an unusual bird while I’m in my study. Then I look at myself and wonder, who the hell is this?

    • beetus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      then I look at myself and wonder, who the hell is this?

      Someone with passion for the world they live in! I have the same experience with the Merlin app after a friend suggested I download it last year. It’s so fun seeing real time identification of multiple birds at once

  • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    31
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    As a kid I adored being indoctrinated by my bird fanatic grandmother. I’d spend so much time looking through her Audubon’s Guide to Eastern Birds (US), and she would help me identify anything that came to the feeder.

    She died several years ago and that was the one thing of hers I asked for. Now my four-year-old daughter likes to look through it with me. I even bought her a brand new copy the book’s western counterpart, since I live in western Canada now. I’ve even converted my wife who was once so ignorant of bird-related lore that she asked me one time if birds have ears.

  • SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    9 months ago

    A couple bald eagles sent me into a camera hobby, they fucking ruined me those birds. I’m broke as shit and my lens still isn’t long enough.

  • TDCN@feddit.dk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Damn. I though i was just getting in to a nice new hobby, but apparently I’m just getting old.

  • sxt@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    9 months ago

    It was all over as soon as I bought a camera. I even live right next to some wetlands. Didn’t stand a chance.

  • Fudoshin ️🏳️‍🌈
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    9 months ago

    110% it started with some light fun making about birds not being real. Looking at superbowl pics and researching different tits.

    Now I regularly visit Greggs for a baguette then sit and feed my army of starlings in town while tempting other birds to me.

    I plan on visiting the South of my city to see some wood parrots this weekend. 🐦

  • BanjoShepard@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    9 months ago

    I need everyone to catch up. Soon it will be cool that I was a thirteen year old running around the neighborhood with a pair of binoculars. My friends are going to be so jealous that I got such a head start.

    • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      9 months ago

      Neat birds. They’re pink because of their diet like flamingos, and iirc while they’re kinda monogamous, the ones I’m most familiar with had all kinds of soap opera style drama. They also don’t smell great.

      Source - I worked next to the roseate spoonbill enclosure at Animal Kingdom for a few years.

      The sandhill crane is probably my favorite bird though. There’s something extremely dinosaur like about them.

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    9 months ago

    When my grandfather passed, I got his bird call clock. I thought it was an innocent item to remember my grandfather, but apparently it’s a time bomb.

  • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    When you like looking at animals, birds are one of the easiest choice. Birds and insects are the only two categories that you’ll encounter pretty much anywhere.

    As expected birds are more popular.

  • marcos@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    I just noticed during a work meeting today that the birds near my window become extremely weary when I look into them. To the point that one behaved like that Super Mario ghost that only moves when you are not looking.

    • TJA!@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      9 months ago

      Well, yeah. They are not real. They are drones operated by the government to spy on you. And it seems they suspect you are onto them.

  • NoFuckingWaynado@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    9 months ago

    I’ve always lived in high migration pathways, so I had a mild interest from that. Then I picked up Wingspan in Switch which has tons of interesting birds in it. I noticed even Target sells the original tabletop game, but the Switch version is a great way to learn the game.