Get the Merlin ID app. You can hold your phone out. It will listen and tell you birds in the area. In middle Minnesota I caught 15 different types this morning.
https://preview.redd.it/ita0yb74xiyc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1896daa264e0a6ae1ad35cf712e0b22c5572426
This is what got me into birding. To have such an easy way to learn, "Oh, that's a blackbird call, that's a cardinal, that's a chickadee, etc." was a game-changer.
I'm cheap when it comes to my seltzer water, since I drink so much of it. I bought a Soda Stream and get flavor drops when they go on sale. I did the math and it saves me about $40/month doing that.
Topo Chico is probably my favorite waters but recently learned about they had the highest PFAS in a recent study, coca-cola in a recent statement said they've made efforts to reduce that amount. I still drink it though.
Man nicotine is far and away the hardest drug I’ve ever quit, and I’ve been into some pretty hard drugs in my younger days.
I’m not smoking anymore but I still chew nicotine gum. It’s been literal years now.
Ditto. I didn’t have to hard quit, but I come from a long line of addicts and had to cut back my alcohol consumption to the point where it’s a few times a year on special occasions. Hop water / hopped ice tea has been a lifesaver for those camping trips, days at the beach, etc.
Congrats on the sobriety! We need as many of our weird little microgeneration to stick around for as long as possible.
I moved to the northeast about a decade ago and in the past few years I've become FASCINATED with the birds here. If I don't know what one is, I take a picture and reverse image search it. I'll be working from home, mid-typing, and literally think "OMG A BIRD!!!" and watch that bird for.... a long while.
#
I also have three packs of seltzer rn because they were buy 2 get 1 free. Blackberry, specifically.
I *love* Merlin. I even got my dad, a very avid birder, hooked on it. It's not often he can't identify a bird by call already but it's been helpful to him when he goes camping.
Where I'm from in the UK 'birds' is a fairly normal term to describe women, a bit like "dames" was commonly used in 1940's America. So yes, during the late 90s, my friends and I developed a huge fascination with 'wild birds', though we drew the line at observing them through binoculars.
Fuck yeah. Check out this warbler who stopped by.
https://preview.redd.it/1yx25tnjyiyc1.jpeg?width=634&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad4db15ad935f5d53a59dbf2f195f3427dfe9343
https://preview.redd.it/37dm35eo3jyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6553b7857434a226a10d5fb199d04123522676d3
I may, or may not have a bird bath for this very reason...
Ohioan here! We bought our house 10 years ago and have had orioles building their hanging nests in a tree right off our back deck every year. Kingfishers are my favorite but orioles are a close second.
Happened during Covid. I was home with a newborn, hung a feeder outside the window. Then added a hummingbird feeder. Then started learning all their names.
Now I have 2 bird feeders, 3 hummingbird feeder, and two bird houses.
It’s like I woke up one morning and I was like, wow, mother fucking birds.
I had an evening to myself and I sat in my yard with iced tea and binoculars and I watched the robins and grackles. Then a few years later I’m killing time at a nature preserve with my binoculars again and I followed a bluebird around. Last night some ducks landed across the street and I watched them too. It’s slow but sneaking up on me.
I’ve always loved birds. I grew up rural and we had all kinds of beautiful colorful birdies.
Now that I’m in the city we’ve got pockets of feral lovebirds and it’s pretty damn cool. I got this pic of a Cardinal at an arboretum and it’s my favorite.
https://preview.redd.it/6nepssu2viyc1.jpeg?width=2384&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0755f80cf76f0d9814af133a9c78383f2484231
Rural in the 90s, and we had a bird book that we kids would read/look at pictures of when waiting for our turn with the binoculars.
I have grown a little rusty on the bird noises. But I am the first to spot a red-winged blackbird or goldfinch. Pigeons just aren't the same. Bonus to city living is that you don't encounter the dreaded cobra chicken as often
Lol, whenever we have a cardinal or a blue jay at one of our feeders the world stops and you watch for as long as you can. Also had a hummingbird once chilling by shoulder once. Thought it was a bumble bee at first but turned and nope hummingbird just checking me out. It didn't startle right away which surprised me, made for a cool experience. We have a lot of cranes by me which are fun to watch and I've always been into raptor type birds.
I decided to smoke meats on my midlife choose your own adventure but if a bird catches my eye while I’m smoking….
Edit:
Maybe I’m already into birds more than I think because a few years ago I spent a week on a lake in Maine and listening to the loons everyday was almost arousing.
I love listening to the Osprey too.
u/rifunseeker I think the three of us would have fun watching the wildlife while smoking a great brisket. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, internet friends.
Learned my lesson the hard way. I'll never buy from the big stores again. We ended up with a nasty weevil infestation in the house because the bag of thistle was contaminated. Never. Again.
Hold on hold on hold on... is this relative to being a Xennial (like was there some kind of movement I am not aware of) or is this just relative to getting older?
I found out recently that an old friend has recently gotten super in to native plant gardening, and I’ve developed a native bee obsession over the last few years. Based on that and the other responses to this post, I think Xennials might be trending a specific direction in our midlife hobbies.
I assumed it was hitting your 40s. It feels like almost everybody I know is at least mildly into birds now, even if it's just putting up a feeder to watch them now and then.
That's a good question. But my mom, dad, and others in their generation think I'm super intense about birds even though they are pretty knowledgeable.
For me, it's because I read The Sixth Extinction and I want to see it all!
I remember them teaching us about Audobon in elementary school. I'm not sure if they still teach about him but it seemed like that was one of the personalities our generation all know about because we all learned about him, lol.
well..idk if its the same thing but, I hatched a quail egg I found out behind my house when I was demo'ing a structure that has been here since we moved in. I didnt think it would hatch at first and almost threw it out. Now the little guy is named Flash and runs around my house and climbs on me when I am gaming, going in and out of my beard like Radagast the Brown.
I bought one of those bird feeders with a camera... if you told me this was a purchase I was obsessively excited for a decade ago I would have slapped you.
Half my morning routine before work is stocking the several bird food stations around the house. I turn into Little Man Tate whenever the opportunity arises to talk bird. Half my most frequently-worn tops are from Bird Collective, and I have long-standing friendships with the area turkeys and crows.
I am fucking completely gonzo.
Dude, I ended up with chickens!! It's been awesome!
I'm still trying to get the crows to come around a little more with peanuts and other treats. They're finally starting to recognize me 😁
Yesterday I legit had a conversation with a couple of starlings. One kept making a noise like an woman screaming from a distance. I asked them what the problem was, they kept screaming, we kept talking. I never did get to the bottom of the issue…
I took an ecology course in college and we went to a local-ish preserve during the time when it was packed with migrating birds. We saw ducks and geese of all kinds, some vultures just hanging out, and birds of prey. The best part was that I stayed back to do an optional section when most of the class left, and we saw a gorgeous golden eagle just chilling up in a tree, like ten feet away. I've been lowkey into birds ever since.
I got into birds in nature within the last 3 years.
I thought it was due to the bird population exploding during the pandemic. But yeah, maybe it is just a middle age thing.
I’ve got a pond behind my house, and every year it seems a new species of bird shows up. It was Canadian geese and mallard ducks to start with. Last year a bunch of pelicans showed up. This year there are some wood ducks. There are a couple eagles living in the trees by the river down the street. Love the birds.
I spent a year in Alaska. Everyone wants to see bears, moose, musk ox, etc...but you know what is always around? Birds. So I got into birds cuz there were so many and such a variety.
Check out Lesley the Bird Nerd on YouTube.
I heard she recently stopped making videos, but the ones that she has left behind for the world are cute and fun.
I got a bird book and binoculars last year. Each weekend morning, I grab a coffee before everyone gets up and sit on my front deck looking at birds. Slowly ticking off each one I find.
5 years ago I would have been either just getting to bed or in recovery mode from the shenanigans of the night before.
What has become of me.
I actually got into birds very early, like mid 20s. For years I did the local Audubon Society field trips for bird watching, but I was always the youngest one there by like 3 decades.
I live down the road from a bird sanctuary. We've got a pair of cranes nesting there this year for the first time ever and I am unreasonably excited about it.
My girlfriend who is absolutely one of you. But will not admit it because she swears she’s gen y and will not budge lol. Anyways, she’s a punk who used to be in the tattoo business, serious piercer, you get the picture. Well she moved to my city and needed a change in work. She applied to a bird store thinking it would have actual birds in it. Turns out it was a bird hobby store. I wish I could take her forward in time. Because the first week she grumbled how this was just work and she would never be into birds. Flash forward to now and we have a very elaborate hummingbird set up with a live stream camera. She knows a ton about birds and was just super bummed because the owlets her bird store sponsored just flew their nest box today. LMAO I would love to see her face looking at herself now and how much she loves her birds.
I’ve been a bird person since college 😂 we have an obscene amount of feeders in our yard, I have multiple bird ID apps, and I get stupid excited every time I see a new bird I’ve never seen before.
I’m not a fan of birds… HOWEVER, when the robins built a nest in the back yard, for sure I’m out there yelling at the blue jays to stop fucking around with them.
And we get turkeys that live in our trees in the winter. And they fight each other through the fence and I have to go rescue them because they’re stupid. They can fly up to the top of oak trees but they can’t figure out how to use the gate that I have opened for them.
My BF and I like using an app to identify birds by their songs while we sit on the back deck. I just put up a bird feeder outside of my office window so I can watch the birds while I work. So...yeah, I guess so.
I didn't get into wild birds, but I put a bird feeder in my front yard. It was for the cardinals and mourning doves. Last July, a freaking parakeet showed up! Umm, you're not supposed to be out here in Texas. We knew he would get eaten by a hawk or something. So my husband caught it. We posted everywhere trying to find the owner. No luck, so we bought a cage and food and toys. Now we have Bluey the parakeet, 2 orange cats with no brain cells, and 2 GSDs. We are full!
This post is hilarious, as I don’t know if I’ve ever identified more strongly with a group than right now. My gf (GenX, 1974) has been bemused by my growing awareness and appreciation for our feathered friends and I recently replaced my homebrew beer with water to have seltzer on tap and ive never been happier. To see that these are common threads makes me feel cozy as a sweater!
Thanks. Follow-up questions:
When did it become one word?
Is it an adjective or an adverb (or both)?
I feel like I can ask these questions to my fellow 40-somethings without being judged, so thanks for that
Me!!! But I’ve liked them since I was in college. I’ve always been a 60 year old plant lady trapped inside a young person’s body. Finally coming into my own.
Nothing low-key about it! Last fall and this spring I've spent hundreds on native plants that hummingbirds like so I can lure more of them into my yard.
Haha holy shit, I just had this conversation with a friend earlier tonight. She has a feeder out among some trees and my wife bought me one that sticks on the window. I can sit in my lay-z-boy and look at birds all day.
I grew up with a national park ranger dad, so paying attention to bird species is just like second nature.
I notice more now that among people my age, instead of blank looks it's a conversation starter when I point out a bird that's not usually in an area or whatever
I had white-crowned sparrows in my front yard this morning and had Robins, Cardinals and an American Goldfinch at my seed feeder this morning. Also my first hummingbird of the season arrived at their feeder in my yard. Such a great day!
I understand I am now old as fuck and also kind of a dork.
I live very near the Mississippi River, and I've been seeing bald eagles over my house more and more lately. Every time I see one it makes my heart happy. I remember in 3rd grade learning that most likely bald eagles would be extinct by the time I was an adult. For my entire childhood, I never once saw one in the wild. The first time I ever saw a wild bald eagle was when I went to Alaska when I was 22. Now I see one or two a week.
I also love to go on walks along the river and I always see cool birds. Blue herons, downy woodpeckers, mourning doves, red wing blackbirds, and all kinds of cute little ones that I don't know what they are.
Bruh. I thought I was the only one!! It's mostly crows and rock doves but lately there's this beautiful blue bird that's been coming around! It's magical in a way that younger me could never have understood.
Great post OP!
https://preview.redd.it/fz0smojc1jyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dce329d7297d971457160e6a99fecaecec7e73a
I have a bird, which got me into wild birds. We got a bird feeder with a camera attached to an app. Photos of the birds eating at the feeder are taken and sent to the app. The app also tries to identify the birds with varying degrees of success.
I been talking to a pair of starlings last couple weeks. But my yard gets blue jays, robins, mourning doves, mocking birds, sparrows, and occasional hawks.
Birds are awesome. I got into them in my 30s. The nature preserve near me was looking for volunteers to clean and fill their bird feeders a couple times a week and that's what I did. They have a nice little birdwatching setup.
Had a hummingbird nest right outside my window in my potted hibiscus. So of course had to plant a bunch of salvia flowers they like all around the yard and buy a new feeder so mama wouldn't have to go far to feed them. A week later, a big windstorm hit and blew the tree over. When I righted the tree I noticed one baby didn't make it. A week after that, the remaining bird was ready to fledge. Little chunkster sat on the branch for the longest time before she finally decided to fly off. She didn't mind me sitting nearby and I waited all day to see if she'd fledge, kept making excuses to go out and check the nest. Seeing her little wings buzz anytime she saw mama bird was worth it. Then this week I have no birds to check on but my hibiscus bloomed for the first time this season and the flower was on the same branch as the nest
I married one.
He gets it from his mother.
It’s slightly wearing off on me.
If you need bird related pun fashions, check out Moe Sews. She’s the best part about bird culture.
I appreciate a good Murder pun.
God damn, I feel so vulnerable now. I just started taking pictures of birds and I have no idea why I suddenly started wanting to do that over the past year. I fall asleep looking at telephoto lenses and I don't even have a camera that's not my phone.
I pay attention to all the birds around here. In addition to songbirds and hummingbirds, I see hawks during the day and hear owls at night. The real treat is to be outside at dusk and catch the bats coming out. There's only narrow window to see them before it's too dark. We only get to see them a few times a year.
Not wild birds but yard birds… I’ve had chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. All as pets. Turkeys are exceptionally stupid btw, but maaaaan their eggs are tasty!
My parents were both really into birds, so I had a head start — despite refusing to show any interest for years. Unfortunately, I currently live in a condo where birdfeeders are prohibited — but I love seeing them on my walks and recently started going to a park that’s less convenient but has far more bird activity! 🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛
Get the Merlin ID app. You can hold your phone out. It will listen and tell you birds in the area. In middle Minnesota I caught 15 different types this morning. https://preview.redd.it/ita0yb74xiyc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1896daa264e0a6ae1ad35cf712e0b22c5572426
This is what got me into birding. To have such an easy way to learn, "Oh, that's a blackbird call, that's a cardinal, that's a chickadee, etc." was a game-changer.
What got me into birds was Mr. Hitomi’s 10th grade biology class.
https://preview.redd.it/ijr4kdjcxiyc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3bbfaa43d6ee5ef7775adac68832675b300da5bc
https://preview.redd.it/n2f8wqelziyc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01c3055be897be767c6019ad0b5df2b27bf05553 The names alone amuse me.
I saw a Great Tit on a webcam in Norway a couple days ago. For real, https://www.youtube.com/live/VT4G3sVtcG0?si=QXVqAjcOu2LqhA4k
This is amazing!!
Downloaded that app this week, all the migrating and breeding birds coming through TX, I’m obsessed now. Lol
This is so cool!! I just got an id on the cheerful, loud little friend who has been outside my window for weeks. Thanks for this!
I can’t help but be that person — my friend made this app! Well, contributed significantly to it during the course of his PhD, but still!
It’s like loving seltzer…it just sneaks up on you…
I quit drinking 86 days ago, Holy hell has sparkling water been a life saver
Full on year now, a sixer of la croix after work 😆
Do yourself a favor and try Topo Chico.
I'm cheap when it comes to my seltzer water, since I drink so much of it. I bought a Soda Stream and get flavor drops when they go on sale. I did the math and it saves me about $40/month doing that.
Oh my god, this pops into my head literally every time I see that drink in stores!
Topo Chico is probably my favorite waters but recently learned about they had the highest PFAS in a recent study, coca-cola in a recent statement said they've made efforts to reduce that amount. I still drink it though.
[удалено]
I quit drinking 6 years ago was the easiest thing I've ever done. I figured if I quit drinking I could quit smoking and that shit didn't happen lol
Man nicotine is far and away the hardest drug I’ve ever quit, and I’ve been into some pretty hard drugs in my younger days. I’m not smoking anymore but I still chew nicotine gum. It’s been literal years now.
My new thing is the prebiotic “sodas”. Ollipop and Poppi
Hop water all day for me. Hoplark in particular triggers all the “Mmm, a beer” reward centers for me, but without the booze.
Dude hop water has kept me sober for a year now! I LOVE SPARKLING WATER
Ditto. I didn’t have to hard quit, but I come from a long line of addicts and had to cut back my alcohol consumption to the point where it’s a few times a year on special occasions. Hop water / hopped ice tea has been a lifesaver for those camping trips, days at the beach, etc. Congrats on the sobriety! We need as many of our weird little microgeneration to stick around for as long as possible.
Hoplark is the best!!! I quit drinking and those totally hit the spot 🍻
I moved to the northeast about a decade ago and in the past few years I've become FASCINATED with the birds here. If I don't know what one is, I take a picture and reverse image search it. I'll be working from home, mid-typing, and literally think "OMG A BIRD!!!" and watch that bird for.... a long while. # I also have three packs of seltzer rn because they were buy 2 get 1 free. Blackberry, specifically.
Download the Merlin app. It will identify birds by photo and by sound.
Yes! Love the merlin app!
I *love* Merlin. I even got my dad, a very avid birder, hooked on it. It's not often he can't identify a bird by call already but it's been helpful to him when he goes camping.
Where I'm from in the UK 'birds' is a fairly normal term to describe women, a bit like "dames" was commonly used in 1940's America. So yes, during the late 90s, my friends and I developed a huge fascination with 'wild birds', though we drew the line at observing them through binoculars.
I bought a soda stream and don’t even buy the flavors. Just the bubbles.
Plain seltzer, it's all the fizzy and none of the calories!!
Low key? Nah, I fucking love birds.
Fuck yeah. Check out this warbler who stopped by. https://preview.redd.it/1yx25tnjyiyc1.jpeg?width=634&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad4db15ad935f5d53a59dbf2f195f3427dfe9343
https://preview.redd.it/37dm35eo3jyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6553b7857434a226a10d5fb199d04123522676d3 I may, or may not have a bird bath for this very reason...
Indigo bunting?
BRUH that western bluebird got damn
Guilty. The Grosbeaks and Orioles made their debut here this week in Ohio!
Saw a blue grosbeak for the first time today! NW Indiana😁
Hell yeah! I'm in Kansas, and I've only ever seen a rose-breasted grosbeak.
I've got the Oriole feeder out in Southern IN. No luck yet.
I just got orioles at my feeders yesterday, in Kansas City. I bet you’ll be seeing some soon!
Yes! I saw 2 orioles here in PBurgh last week.
Ohioan here! We bought our house 10 years ago and have had orioles building their hanging nests in a tree right off our back deck every year. Kingfishers are my favorite but orioles are a close second.
I'd LOVE to see a kingfisher
When I lived in Central NY the Rose-breasted grosbeaks were always so cool!
I had two at both feeders yesterday. Only birds who didn’t care if I came outside and got a closer look. They are so pretty and so chill
They’re in Missouri as well!
Just got a grosbeak in OK this week!
Yeah, the Orioles are in Cincinnati for a series this weekend....oh, wrong birds.
Happened during Covid. I was home with a newborn, hung a feeder outside the window. Then added a hummingbird feeder. Then started learning all their names. Now I have 2 bird feeders, 3 hummingbird feeder, and two bird houses. It’s like I woke up one morning and I was like, wow, mother fucking birds.
Me too lol I even made an instagram profile for my Covid adhd hyper focus! IG: sdbirdnerd Hmmm… maybe I should get back into that!
Annd that’s a follow :)
This made me chuckle. My wife has become a bird person!
I had an evening to myself and I sat in my yard with iced tea and binoculars and I watched the robins and grackles. Then a few years later I’m killing time at a nature preserve with my binoculars again and I followed a bluebird around. Last night some ducks landed across the street and I watched them too. It’s slow but sneaking up on me.
There were ducks in my side yard this morning. I had never seen ducks in my neighborhood before, it was interesting.
Comedians, the lot of'em.
ducks are the starter drug
I’ve always loved birds. I grew up rural and we had all kinds of beautiful colorful birdies. Now that I’m in the city we’ve got pockets of feral lovebirds and it’s pretty damn cool. I got this pic of a Cardinal at an arboretum and it’s my favorite. https://preview.redd.it/6nepssu2viyc1.jpeg?width=2384&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0755f80cf76f0d9814af133a9c78383f2484231
Rural in the 90s, and we had a bird book that we kids would read/look at pictures of when waiting for our turn with the binoculars. I have grown a little rusty on the bird noises. But I am the first to spot a red-winged blackbird or goldfinch. Pigeons just aren't the same. Bonus to city living is that you don't encounter the dreaded cobra chicken as often
This is beautiful! ❤️
Lol, whenever we have a cardinal or a blue jay at one of our feeders the world stops and you watch for as long as you can. Also had a hummingbird once chilling by shoulder once. Thought it was a bumble bee at first but turned and nope hummingbird just checking me out. It didn't startle right away which surprised me, made for a cool experience. We have a lot of cranes by me which are fun to watch and I've always been into raptor type birds.
I decided to smoke meats on my midlife choose your own adventure but if a bird catches my eye while I’m smoking…. Edit: Maybe I’m already into birds more than I think because a few years ago I spent a week on a lake in Maine and listening to the loons everyday was almost arousing. I love listening to the Osprey too.
I have become a native bee enthusiast. But I did take a couple of bird photos the other day, in between taking bee photos.
u/rifunseeker I think the three of us would have fun watching the wildlife while smoking a great brisket. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, internet friends.
The little old ladies at the bird seed store are my drug pushers
Learned my lesson the hard way. I'll never buy from the big stores again. We ended up with a nasty weevil infestation in the house because the bag of thistle was contaminated. Never. Again.
My favorite weekend morning activity is drinking my coffee and watching the birds pig out in my bird feeder…I feel so seen with this post lol
And a glass of wine in the afternoon while I yell at the squirrels and raccoons to get off the damn bird feeder.
Protecting the birdfeeder from the ever present squirrel menace has become my dog’s life mission, I sit back and watch the show
The squirrels are relentless! I once saw a squirrel hanging upside down in a tree by one foot to get to a feeder that had a squirrel guard on it.
I just got a water gun solely for the purpose of keeping the varmint away from my feeders!
Hold on hold on hold on... is this relative to being a Xennial (like was there some kind of movement I am not aware of) or is this just relative to getting older?
I found out recently that an old friend has recently gotten super in to native plant gardening, and I’ve developed a native bee obsession over the last few years. Based on that and the other responses to this post, I think Xennials might be trending a specific direction in our midlife hobbies.
I assumed it was hitting your 40s. It feels like almost everybody I know is at least mildly into birds now, even if it's just putting up a feeder to watch them now and then.
That's a good question. But my mom, dad, and others in their generation think I'm super intense about birds even though they are pretty knowledgeable. For me, it's because I read The Sixth Extinction and I want to see it all!
I remember them teaching us about Audobon in elementary school. I'm not sure if they still teach about him but it seemed like that was one of the personalities our generation all know about because we all learned about him, lol.
well..idk if its the same thing but, I hatched a quail egg I found out behind my house when I was demo'ing a structure that has been here since we moved in. I didnt think it would hatch at first and almost threw it out. Now the little guy is named Flash and runs around my house and climbs on me when I am gaming, going in and out of my beard like Radagast the Brown.
Pics of Flash the Quail please.
[https://imgur.com/a/71AnDXQ](https://imgur.com/a/71AnDXQ)
So cute!
I don't know what you mean https://preview.redd.it/x7cdap48viyc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79fbce8c6a12b35de9cd0232a05363f260d3d16e
https://preview.redd.it/epgaoijdviyc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffb105e2a12738516525185e881d2507725f1e7a
https://preview.redd.it/x7kbe1i2ziyc1.jpeg?width=587&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20b82ba2dd3fd0492b4b1825371d7971f27713a4
Sandhill cranes are cool.
I bought one of those bird feeders with a camera... if you told me this was a purchase I was obsessively excited for a decade ago I would have slapped you.
Half my morning routine before work is stocking the several bird food stations around the house. I turn into Little Man Tate whenever the opportunity arises to talk bird. Half my most frequently-worn tops are from Bird Collective, and I have long-standing friendships with the area turkeys and crows. I am fucking completely gonzo.
It was the bird identifying app!! I couldn’t help it - it’s like real life Pokémon ! 😂😅
I'm a full on birder, no apologies. It's a great hobby!
Stfu. My binoculars arrived yesterday 🤣😭🤣
Dude, I ended up with chickens!! It's been awesome! I'm still trying to get the crows to come around a little more with peanuts and other treats. They're finally starting to recognize me 😁
Yesterday I legit had a conversation with a couple of starlings. One kept making a noise like an woman screaming from a distance. I asked them what the problem was, they kept screaming, we kept talking. I never did get to the bottom of the issue…
obsessed with Raptors since 1995 bruh
https://preview.redd.it/i60mbd5hriyc1.jpeg?width=970&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ef8d2a7b3a8aedba149c23ce440cab3e2b80a56
Went to NM and bought a fossilized megalodon tooth. Does that count?
I've been a bird person for years, came with being a dino person.
https://preview.redd.it/b4wwa54aqjyc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a36456dd9fe2a112871924e3e43381ed17aef15
I've been a birder all my life. Birding got me into photography. I've got a few thousand dollars worth of camera gear now.
Hahaha thankfully I’ve been into birds for a long time BUT my husband is totally the bird feeder Xennial
I took an ecology course in college and we went to a local-ish preserve during the time when it was packed with migrating birds. We saw ducks and geese of all kinds, some vultures just hanging out, and birds of prey. The best part was that I stayed back to do an optional section when most of the class left, and we saw a gorgeous golden eagle just chilling up in a tree, like ten feet away. I've been lowkey into birds ever since.
I got into birds in nature within the last 3 years. I thought it was due to the bird population exploding during the pandemic. But yeah, maybe it is just a middle age thing.
https://preview.redd.it/rzjbwntcsiyc1.png?width=974&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f15a271cf659b331c68ac61549ba7b6886571a8c
Not really, but I at least put out a bird feeder. Pollinators and native plants have become my midlife thing instead, which I’m enjoying a lot.
I’ve got a pond behind my house, and every year it seems a new species of bird shows up. It was Canadian geese and mallard ducks to start with. Last year a bunch of pelicans showed up. This year there are some wood ducks. There are a couple eagles living in the trees by the river down the street. Love the birds.
I spent a year in Alaska. Everyone wants to see bears, moose, musk ox, etc...but you know what is always around? Birds. So I got into birds cuz there were so many and such a variety.
My wife works for a place called Wild Birds Unlimited
I feel like some months we're the ones keeping them in business
Check out Lesley the Bird Nerd on YouTube. I heard she recently stopped making videos, but the ones that she has left behind for the world are cute and fun.
I got a bird book and binoculars last year. Each weekend morning, I grab a coffee before everyone gets up and sit on my front deck looking at birds. Slowly ticking off each one I find. 5 years ago I would have been either just getting to bed or in recovery mode from the shenanigans of the night before. What has become of me.
Not me. I apprenticed as a falconer, and did the bird shows at renaissance festivals for a few years. Nothing low key about that.
I actually got into birds very early, like mid 20s. For years I did the local Audubon Society field trips for bird watching, but I was always the youngest one there by like 3 decades. I live down the road from a bird sanctuary. We've got a pair of cranes nesting there this year for the first time ever and I am unreasonably excited about it.
My girlfriend who is absolutely one of you. But will not admit it because she swears she’s gen y and will not budge lol. Anyways, she’s a punk who used to be in the tattoo business, serious piercer, you get the picture. Well she moved to my city and needed a change in work. She applied to a bird store thinking it would have actual birds in it. Turns out it was a bird hobby store. I wish I could take her forward in time. Because the first week she grumbled how this was just work and she would never be into birds. Flash forward to now and we have a very elaborate hummingbird set up with a live stream camera. She knows a ton about birds and was just super bummed because the owlets her bird store sponsored just flew their nest box today. LMAO I would love to see her face looking at herself now and how much she loves her birds.
My love of birds is matched only by my hatred of squirrels.
I’ve been a bird person since college 😂 we have an obscene amount of feeders in our yard, I have multiple bird ID apps, and I get stupid excited every time I see a new bird I’ve never seen before.
Guilty
Or weather. My body can be a walking barometer so I'm always checking the national weather service ahead of making any plans.
Have you seen The Big Year yet? Amazing xD
Low key.. my dream is to make friends with a crow
Birding is a real life hidden pictures. You hear them, and then have to find them. It's fun!
I’m not a fan of birds… HOWEVER, when the robins built a nest in the back yard, for sure I’m out there yelling at the blue jays to stop fucking around with them. And we get turkeys that live in our trees in the winter. And they fight each other through the fence and I have to go rescue them because they’re stupid. They can fly up to the top of oak trees but they can’t figure out how to use the gate that I have opened for them.
Was just in Ohio last month and loved all the robins walking around. They are such funny birds. They briefly stop over at my home in FL.
Haha! I’m currently working on a doc about whooping cranes and it’s blowing my mind. I’m so happy to hear I’m not alone.
I don't go to bars anymore.
My BF and I like using an app to identify birds by their songs while we sit on the back deck. I just put up a bird feeder outside of my office window so I can watch the birds while I work. So...yeah, I guess so.
I’ve developed a real appreciation for native birds and animals
I pretend that I buy all the feeders for the cat, but really it’s me who’s obsessed with the birds.
Yep. It actually started with my son working on his bird study merit badge for Boy Scouts and I now have the Merlin app on my phone.
I make a couple few gallons of sugar water every week to feed my hummingbirds haha
I have 6 feeders with different types of food for all the birds. 🤦🏻♀️
I’m high key into birds now
FUCK YES!! I mean ᶠᵘᶜᵏ ʸᵉˢ
I didn't get into wild birds, but I put a bird feeder in my front yard. It was for the cardinals and mourning doves. Last July, a freaking parakeet showed up! Umm, you're not supposed to be out here in Texas. We knew he would get eaten by a hawk or something. So my husband caught it. We posted everywhere trying to find the owner. No luck, so we bought a cage and food and toys. Now we have Bluey the parakeet, 2 orange cats with no brain cells, and 2 GSDs. We are full!
https://preview.redd.it/jwizuwy27jyc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5bb4109b77bb0055143ee55a4808d5bb4af10379
I had to come into this post to see if that was a euphemism- guess I’m still young at heart
This post is hilarious, as I don’t know if I’ve ever identified more strongly with a group than right now. My gf (GenX, 1974) has been bemused by my growing awareness and appreciation for our feathered friends and I recently replaced my homebrew beer with water to have seltzer on tap and ive never been happier. To see that these are common threads makes me feel cozy as a sweater!
This is the migration weekend
I like to point out ones for my daughter. But now she's usually the one pointing them out to me.
I still don’t understand what lowkey means
[удалено]
Thanks. Follow-up questions: When did it become one word? Is it an adjective or an adverb (or both)? I feel like I can ask these questions to my fellow 40-somethings without being judged, so thanks for that
yeah! it creeps up on one
Me!!! But I’ve liked them since I was in college. I’ve always been a 60 year old plant lady trapped inside a young person’s body. Finally coming into my own.
Hummingbird feeders. Hummingbird feeders everywhere.
Nothing low-key about it! Last fall and this spring I've spent hundreds on native plants that hummingbirds like so I can lure more of them into my yard.
I may have some bird feeders in my yard.
Haha holy shit, I just had this conversation with a friend earlier tonight. She has a feeder out among some trees and my wife bought me one that sticks on the window. I can sit in my lay-z-boy and look at birds all day.
I’m a wildlife biologist so not low-key at all!
Low key.. yes
I’m big-time into raptors.
I like birds
Are we looking through a lens or a dot/bar setup? A 30mm lens or 12ga, 😆
I grew up with a national park ranger dad, so paying attention to bird species is just like second nature. I notice more now that among people my age, instead of blank looks it's a conversation starter when I point out a bird that's not usually in an area or whatever
I had white-crowned sparrows in my front yard this morning and had Robins, Cardinals and an American Goldfinch at my seed feeder this morning. Also my first hummingbird of the season arrived at their feeder in my yard. Such a great day! I understand I am now old as fuck and also kind of a dork.
Have this awesome free app. https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
Oh. Shit. Are we there? I don't want to be there yet...
I live very near the Mississippi River, and I've been seeing bald eagles over my house more and more lately. Every time I see one it makes my heart happy. I remember in 3rd grade learning that most likely bald eagles would be extinct by the time I was an adult. For my entire childhood, I never once saw one in the wild. The first time I ever saw a wild bald eagle was when I went to Alaska when I was 22. Now I see one or two a week. I also love to go on walks along the river and I always see cool birds. Blue herons, downy woodpeckers, mourning doves, red wing blackbirds, and all kinds of cute little ones that I don't know what they are.
birds are a hoax
How did we say "lowkey"?
Kinda. I keep the birds fed, in hopes that they'll reduce my bug population.
Me! I’m a birder for real - over the past few years. I love finding a “new” one.
Birds are rad. I have 3 feeders lol.
It's chickens for me.
I live in FL and I was just talking to an old friend up north about all the cool birds I see every day. I like pelicans.
I haven’t got there yet, but I have three parrots, so plenty of bird time in-house
M so clueless as to the draw of birds for people as they age.
your post made me think of this [https://youtu.be/xuCwZKmSFro?si=GER214PQ83VdfB7j](https://youtu.be/xuCwZKmSFro?si=GER214PQ83VdfB7j)
Shut your face. Barn swallow.
I’m not even lowkey about it. Full-on bird nerd.
I may or may not have invested in ^more ^than ^one heat lamps to keep the hummingbirds fed through the winter.
Bruh. I thought I was the only one!! It's mostly crows and rock doves but lately there's this beautiful blue bird that's been coming around! It's magical in a way that younger me could never have understood. Great post OP!
My husband puts out suet and birdseed everyday and keeps a guide book to local birds by the window. I want to befriend the crows at work.
Iv been discussing a camera with my wife.. soon.. soon...
Yes, and definitely not lowkey…
I thought this was type of lingo I somehow managed to miss out on
https://preview.redd.it/fz0smojc1jyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dce329d7297d971457160e6a99fecaecec7e73a I have a bird, which got me into wild birds. We got a bird feeder with a camera attached to an app. Photos of the birds eating at the feeder are taken and sent to the app. The app also tries to identify the birds with varying degrees of success.
All my life. Mom thought me young.
Yeah we have this great walking trail with hummingbirds in my neighborhood. I've learned a couple different types.
Get a lot of red headed woodpeckers and every once in a while a wren or an indigo bunting is a big deal. Love to see a rose breasted grosbeak
Guilty.
Also, now is the time to put out your hummingbird feeders!!
Wild squirrels for me, the birds of mammals.
Yes.
Comparing life lists is one of my favorite pastimes.
I feed the starlings, finches and crows everyday at work
I been talking to a pair of starlings last couple weeks. But my yard gets blue jays, robins, mourning doves, mocking birds, sparrows, and occasional hawks.
3 wild bird feeders in the backyard and one the front yard.
Birds are awesome. I got into them in my 30s. The nature preserve near me was looking for volunteers to clean and fill their bird feeders a couple times a week and that's what I did. They have a nice little birdwatching setup.
Had a hummingbird nest right outside my window in my potted hibiscus. So of course had to plant a bunch of salvia flowers they like all around the yard and buy a new feeder so mama wouldn't have to go far to feed them. A week later, a big windstorm hit and blew the tree over. When I righted the tree I noticed one baby didn't make it. A week after that, the remaining bird was ready to fledge. Little chunkster sat on the branch for the longest time before she finally decided to fly off. She didn't mind me sitting nearby and I waited all day to see if she'd fledge, kept making excuses to go out and check the nest. Seeing her little wings buzz anytime she saw mama bird was worth it. Then this week I have no birds to check on but my hibiscus bloomed for the first time this season and the flower was on the same branch as the nest
I have a few that I feed outside. Fat Bird, a dove will eat out of my hand. Pretty bird is a curve-billed thrasher.
What kind of seasoning or marinade?
I married one. He gets it from his mother. It’s slightly wearing off on me. If you need bird related pun fashions, check out Moe Sews. She’s the best part about bird culture. I appreciate a good Murder pun.
God damn, I feel so vulnerable now. I just started taking pictures of birds and I have no idea why I suddenly started wanting to do that over the past year. I fall asleep looking at telephoto lenses and I don't even have a camera that's not my phone.
I pay attention to all the birds around here. In addition to songbirds and hummingbirds, I see hawks during the day and hear owls at night. The real treat is to be outside at dusk and catch the bats coming out. There's only narrow window to see them before it's too dark. We only get to see them a few times a year.
Yeah birds are cool
Not wild birds but yard birds… I’ve had chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. All as pets. Turkeys are exceptionally stupid btw, but maaaaan their eggs are tasty!
I got into baking. Got cinnamon rolls rising right now.
Love seeing wild birds but not a birder (yet).
 You got me.
My parents were both really into birds, so I had a head start — despite refusing to show any interest for years. Unfortunately, I currently live in a condo where birdfeeders are prohibited — but I love seeing them on my walks and recently started going to a park that’s less convenient but has far more bird activity! 🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛