Thursday, August 15, 2013

For the Birds

I have a little confession to make, and I hope it won't change the way you feel about me.
I hate birds.
I am not a fan of birds.
 

Maybe it's because of the type of birds that inhabit the same piece of the planet I live on. In our current neighborhood we have doves, pigeons, and grackles.

As far as I'm concerned, doves make the most annoying coo-coo-cooooooooing sound. Over and over and over...  Pigeons? OMGosh they are dirty birds. And grackles are just loud. And they eat Lucky's dog food while being loud.


Oh sure, some of you live in areas where there are lovely little song birds, beautifully colored birds, and small birds {that make only small messes}. A few of my very close friends even have birds for pets and even though it kind of confuses me, I totally understand the bond that develops between a human and a creature that's being cared for and nurtured. Kind of like my desire to have a turtle as a pet. We're all different.


Doug and I were sweating sitting out on the patio last week and this little dove landed close to my sunflower head that had gone to seed. I was a little confused by my thoughts as I delighted in watching this little bird hop over and help herself to the seeds that were being offered. What was happening to me? I even went so far as to take some photos of her.


Could this be a shift in thinking for me? Could I be crossing over to the bird loving group of friends? Haha - no. I'm still not a fan of birds. But I am glad that a bird in our backyard ate seeds rather than dog food, and she was quiet about it in the process.

How about you?
Fond of birds or not?

19 comments:

Unknown said...

How kind of you to offer seeds to the birds. I have become a fan of birds, at a distance. I feed them. In summertime I put out the hummingbird feeder & get visits every morning. In the winter I put out mixed seed & peanuts, I get visits from about 7 bird types. Crows annoy me, so loud; morning doves amuse me, they are like little old ladies in sweaters; blue jays are so colourful in the winter dull. Thankfully I do not get much bird mess on the patio.

scrappyjacky said...

Definately not a fan of birds....or the type of birds we get here anyway....seagulls mainly.....that make a horrendous noise....frighten little birds....and s**t on everything ....including clean washing!! In the town they even swoop down a grab food from your hands!!

Maria Ontiveros said...

We live in the land of lovely birds (mainly) . . . hummingbirds, hawks, sparrows, robins, etc. so I love having them in the garden. I'm with you on the doves which sit on the power lines out front , though, and poop in my car! And don't care too much for the crows which gather and eat out of the garbage cans !

debs14 said...

Not a huge fan, but they are better than the bats which we get in the trees in the garden in the evenings!
Maybe I shouldn't have watched the Hitchcock film The Birds. We get loads of pigeons in the garden which drive Coco nuts, she runs around to scare them off and they seem to taunt her by just sitting in the tree looking at her!
I do like little birds though, robins and wrens will always be welcome in my garden.

Abi said...

I am with you Deb. I hate birds. It's the flapping and the mess that get me. I am the girl who walks through town and ducks when a pigeon flies too close. Horrible things!

Alison said...

Are Grackles the birds that look like mini-raptors?.......I've never seen them anywhere but Phoenix!!.
Alison xx

Ruth said...

I'm with you on the bird thing. I like our tiny robins and dislike enormously our dirty-always-scavenging-London-pigeons!

Audrey said...

Oh my, I just glanced at the comments and I really had no idea that people didn't like birds. Wow. I am a bird fanatic. Of course, I do realize that I live in the land of amazing birds. Cardinals, hummingbirds, red-headed woodpeckers, bluebirds, etc. I could watch them all day. I feed them constantly. And, as you know, I have a pet bird named Scout. And she makes me very happy!!! And I adore mourning doves too.....ha!!! But I still love you, Deb. I think you'll eventually convert! (smile)

Amy said...

We have a combination of pain in the neck birds and glorious parrots, lorikeets and kookaburras. As often as I try, I am yet to get a good shot of the wonderful colours from the parrots and lorikeets - they don't seem to like cameras and my zoom is not long enough!

Anonymous said...

We are so lucky with the birds in our surrounding area. We even get owls and nightingales. I love being woken by their song.

Sian said...

I'm not a huge fan of birds either (so now I just like you even more!)

Cheri said...

I have to agree with you about pigeons and grackles. not the nicest or prettiest of their species. But we also get blue jays, cardinals, robins by the boat load, sparrows, finches of some variety, and even the occasional hummingbird. And I love a lot of the bird song we get to enjoy in the Spring. Haven't yet got to the bird-feeder stage... maybe next year.

Susi said...

I'm not big on birds either. They just seem messy! I've been fighting off geese since early Spring. They make a huge mess on our drive everyday, eat and kill our grass and try to nest in our flower beds. And the best part is we aren't supposed to do anything to get rid of them.

Candace said...

I love, love, love birds! Here in our CenPho yard, we have tons of hummers, mockingbirds, Harris' Hawks, pigeons, doves, thrashers, sparrows, finches, cowbirds, and pretty little unidentifiable songbirds now and then...a verdin once, some goldfinches. I love to photograph them, ID them online, study them. They seem like pretty little things sent to make the world a prettier place. I think photographing them has made me like them all the more and I would love to have a 400mm lens someday so I could get better shots.

Missus Wookie said...

I'm not fond of pigeons - either the feral "london" version or the Wood Pigeons which look more like your doves and sound like them too from the description.

But the pretty songbirds and owls are always welcome :)

alexa said...

It has been a revelation to read the comments to your post, as well as your own post of course! I had no idea so many people did not like birds. Perhaps it is something to do with one's environment? I can see that in a city, scavenging birds could be a real nuisance. I have to confess to liking them - both seeing but especially hearing them. A blackbird's song just lifts my heart :).

Candace said...

Of course that's okay, Deb, the question you asked me... :)

Irene said...

I like some birds. We have blue jays and cardinals every once in a while. Love to see their beautiful colored feathers.The black birds are the nasty ones that leave their droppings on my car and the sidewalk. These are the ones I hate and could live without.

Anonymous said...

Even though we have a bird feeder (it's for the little birds like finches) I'm not a fan, especially of the doves, grackles, cowbirds, pigeons and crows, to say nothing of the Canada Geese and their droppings and the murderous Peregrine Falcon that occasionally comes by! I had to laugh - your description of a pigeon is perfect!!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...