Birding (bird watching) vs Parronting

[faeryphoebe1]

I had a colleague who was an active birder. She loved to hike and take her binoculars with her. She could identify many, many species of wild birds. On one particular day, I gushed about how I really wanted a parrot and how I was planning on getting one in about two years time. Hindsight reveals that I had a false, pre-conceived notion that she would find the company of a bird to be a positive experience. However, the look on her face spoke otherwise. In volumes.

She looked quite horrified and shocked as she went on to explain that one of her neighbors had a large parrot that spent its' days on the back porch. The bird drew quite a bit of attention, as it enjoyed making loud vocalizations that echoed up and down the neighborhood on a daily basis. I laughed and shared my excitement at the thought of having a loud, obnoxious bird, especially as a former parront. She looked at me as if I were mental, lol.
The beauty of the hike and the excitement and anticipation of finding and identifying different species of wild birds must be wonderful. I just can't believe that it's as awesome as giving scritches, building trust and having someone to share your life with. But that's just me, lol.
So are any of you birders and parronts? What's your opinion of birding vs parronting?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I've never compared the two lol. I'm a big bird watcher, my parents and I have a life list web site and we strive to photograph as many birds as we can. We often go out of our way to find a new bird, and make sure to stop at bird reserves while on vacation. I recognize most birds by sound, flight pattern, and their call. I'm even the type of person that on occasion listens to bird calls rather than music and have read the sibley guide cover-cover XD

I have a great appreciation for all birds, they are amazing creatures. Wild birds are incredible, they always fly as if their life depends on it and never take a break. Parrots on the other hand give us a in depth look at how I intelligent birds are, and how they can think of strange concepts. Such as thinking they are human, using tools, and understanding things that we humans never though possible.

Most birders I've met are inspired by birds, and would prefer to only see them in the wild rather than captive.

 

[faeryphoebe1]

I've never compared the two lol. I'm a big bird watcher, my parents and I have a life list web site and we strive to photograph as many birds as we can. We often go out of our way to find a new bird, and make sure to stop at bird reserves while on vacation. I recognize most birds by sound, flight pattern, and their call. I'm even the type of person that on occasion listens to bird calls rather than music and have read the sibley guide cover-cover XD

I have a great appreciation for all birds, they are amazing creatures. Wild birds are incredible, they always fly as if their life depends on it and never take a break. Parrots on the other hand give us a in depth look at how I intelligent birds are, and how they can think of strange concepts. Such as thinking they are human, using tools, and understanding things that we humans never though possible.

Most birders I've met are inspired by birds, and would prefer to only see them in the wild rather than captive.

That is so cool. I imagine that that your photo collection is beautiful. I would like to learn some of the different bird calls. We mostly have crows here and Trixie imitates their call quite well, lol.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I've never compared the two lol. I'm a big bird watcher, my parents and I have a life list web site and we strive to photograph as many birds as we can. We often go out of our way to find a new bird, and make sure to stop at bird reserves while on vacation. I recognize most birds by sound, flight pattern, and their call. I'm even the type of person that on occasion listens to bird calls rather than music and have read the sibley guide cover-cover XD

I have a great appreciation for all birds, they are amazing creatures. Wild birds are incredible, they always fly as if their life depends on it and never take a break. Parrots on the other hand give us a in depth look at how I intelligent birds are, and how they can think of strange concepts. Such as thinking they are human, using tools, and understanding things that we humans never though possible.

Most birders I've met are inspired by birds, and would prefer to only see them in the wild rather than captive.

That is so cool. I imagine that that your photo collection is beautiful. I would like to learn some of the different bird calls. We mostly have crows here and Trixie imitates their call quite well, lol.

I love crows, I call them our fake parrots since they are playful and intelligent XD I've been bird watching since I was a kid, so I grew up keeping an ear out for them. I bet you could catch on easily though. There are great phone apps for bird watching that now include calls, and if you go to the park and observe the wild birds you'll soon start recognizing different birds. I have about 10 bird watching books, I also have a book about all the birds that breed in my area. My favorite birding book is the [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Sibley-Guide-Birds-David-Allen/dp/0679451226/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361516257&sr=8-1&keywords=sibley+guide"]sibly guide to birds of north America[/ame] and when I'm out bird watching I bring the [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Sibley-field-guide-Birds-West/dp/B002HXPLFW/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1361516257&sr=8-10&keywords=sibley+guide"]sibly guide to birds of western north America[/ame] since it's smaller. My parents really like the[ame="http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Complete-Birds-America/dp/0792241754/ref=pd_sim_b_4"] National geographic complete guide to birds of north america[/ame], but I still prefer the sibly guide more. The layout is very simple and easy to quickly flip through the book.

Here's a few of the photos I've taken, these are all wild birds

This is a female black chinned hummingbird cooling off in the shade

This is a male red tailed hawk I stalked for an hour to get different angles

I think this is a young Savannah sparrow, but many of our Juvenal sparrows look very similar

I had to hide in a bush for 20 minutes to get this photo lol violet green swallow.

here's one day of good bird watching, taken with my old camera

female anna's hummingbird I managed to sneak up to, my camera was 2 feet away

great horned owl chick

and finally, here's a young white tailed kite. I stalk the parents every year and photograph their bold kids who are curious about me and want to get a closer look. If I try getting close to the parents they fly one tree away, while their kids fly around me in circles trying to see what I am lol

 

[faeryphoebe1]

Oh my gosh! These pictures are incredible. The wings on the red tailed hawk are magnificent. Right away I recognized the Savannah Sparrow. I didn't know what it was called, but these little guys come for breakfast every morning. I throw Trixie's left-overs out in the yard and these little birdies along with black crows and white winged doves have a buffet, lol. It's funny to see wild birds feasting on parrot pellets. I could almost swear that they wait for me because they are perching on the large tree in my front yard watching me as I pull up from work (night-shift) every morning.
The violet green swallow is so fluffy and the baby owl is cute. It must be fun to slowly and carefully make your way toward the bird and be able to capture a picture. These photos are beautiful.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Oh my gosh! These pictures are incredible. The wings on the red tailed hawk are magnificent. Right away I recognized the Savannah Sparrow. I didn't know what it was called, but these little guys come for breakfast every morning. I throw Trixie's left-overs out in the yard and these little birdies along with black crows and white winged doves have a buffet, lol. It's funny to see wild birds feasting on parrot pellets. I could almost swear that they wait for me because they are perching on the large tree in my front yard watching me as I pull up from work (night-shift) every morning.
The violet green swallow is so fluffy and the baby owl is cute. It must be fun to slowly and carefully make your way toward the bird and be able to capture a picture. These photos are beautiful.

The Savannah sparrows are in Texas during the winter, and year round were I live. You'll want to look for adults rather than young birds. Young sparrows are hard to tell apart. This is an adult. You'll also get white crowned sparrows which are more common in backyards, here's the immature bird and a adult bird. You also might see chirping sparrows, lark sparrow, and Lincoln sparrow and many more

I'm glad you like the photos even if they aren't as good looking getting a photo of a wild bird is much more fulfilling than a captive bird. I've missed so many shots so when I do get a good photo it's awesome.

 

[newclassic]

I think a lot avid bird watchers might be against the caged bird industry to begin with, so that could account for some differences in sentiment. E.g., letting a wild thing 'exist as it should', less human interference with nature, not supporting the capture of wild flocks. Though personally, I disagree with the assumption that all animals have some innate wanderlust that would prevent them from ever being happy in a domestic setting.

Though, if her neighbors are pretty inconsiderate with their macaw, I can totally empathize with her frustration. My yard is ~1-2 acres wide and fairly 'wild'--we even have a pond and a creek (pond is man-made, but it attracts a lot of cranes and other birds exotic to our suburb). BUT, a bunch of people in my neighborhood are ""outdoor cat owners""--meaning, they know how to open a door once or twice a day if that. Coincidentally, all their cats lurk in my yard, annihilate wildlife (some leave bloody messes on our porch--and sweet as the cats are, one of them brings the dead animals to our porch!), dig up our gardens, poop literally everywhere (we used to have sand in one of the gardens.... not anymore), etc. We let our birds' cages outside most days for a few hours to get some fresh air, and we even caught some cat trying to jump on their cages! They're always right outside our window so we can supervise them, but I hate knowing my own birds aren't safe from neighbors' pets in my own fenced-in yard. It's not like the red-tailed's ever try to have a go at my parrots .

Those cats are one thing, but the noise pollution coming from our next-door neighbor's dogs is pretty bad--they're outside all day and bark incessantly out of boredom, thanks to their owners' 9-5 jobs. I really don't mind them, but they really get on my parents' nerves. If there was a macaw shrieking nonstop all day outside, I'd probably be turned off by them too lol.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I cannot stand out door cats, they destroy native birds and wild life. I enjoy the company of a friends cat(I prefer dogs myself) and don't dislike them but I wish people did not allow their cats to roam free. It's very irresponsible and ignorant of cat owners. I have no sympathy for them. It's also dangerous for the cats, many outdoor cats in my area get picked off by cougars or coyotes.
I understand that the feral population isn't there fault, but at least keep your own pets indoors.

 

[aliray]

Those photos are absolutly beautiful. I also love to watch the birds outside and always have. Our last home up north I had been planting for bird and myself for 25 years and was a certified wildlife habitat. I had flowers and shrubs that would provide food and nest sites all year. and kept a list of all the birds that lived or traveled thru my yard during migrations. Now down here I no longer put out Bird seed but do have a bird bath and am still planting with birds in mind. I just bought a bottlebrush shrub to plant for the hummers. And I have a few native plants to feed and attract butterflies and also attract hummers. And I still have my inside birds who could not be let go as they are pets all born in captivity and not native to the area . just my thoughts

 

[newclassic]

I cannot stand out door cats, they destroy native birds and wild life. I enjoy the company of a friends cat(I prefer dogs myself) and don't dislike them but I wish people did not allow their cats to roam free. It's very irresponsible and ignorant of cat owners. I have no sympathy for them. It's also dangerous for the cats, many outdoor cats in my area get picked off by cougars or coyotes.
I understand that the feral population isn't there fault, but at least keep your own pets indoors.

Totally! One of the neighbor's cats got attacked pretty badly because it (presumably) roamed into a yard with a dog. And that particular cat always tries to get in our house to sleep on our couch . I mean it's one thing to have your them explore your own yard supervised, but it's another to kick them out of the house for 12 hours a day. Plus, if someone's outdoor cat isn't neutered or spayed, it could contribute to the feral population.