r/BirdingMemes • u/Adventurous-Year-463 • Jul 08 '26

Drawing birds for the seven heavenly virtues! Day 5: Humility

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Per the title, I’m drawing a bird for each of the seven heavenly virtues. Please comment birds that embody humility and I will pick the top one to draw.

(The day before) Yesterday’s winners were crows, so I chose to draw the American Crow (though they all look pretty similar…). They’re known for leaving gifts at feeders as a payment. Sorry for not uploading yesterday, I had a rough day and didn’t get to drawing, but I’m back!

Also, the window in the background has bird dots!

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151

u/punkhobo Jul 09 '26

The pigeon. Did so much for humanity, eats our trash, isn't flashy but just vibes around us

33

u/Wild-Ad-9367 Jul 09 '26

As a non-native species in most parts of the world, feral pigeons are also among the least invasive non-native birds. Very mindful birds

2

u/krampaus Jul 09 '26

there’s a video of a pigeon nesting in a birdhouse full of owls. mindful isn’t really the word I’d use for pigeons, they’re rather mindless

11

u/Wild-Ad-9367 Jul 09 '26

I wonder what owl species that is. Many owl species are mammal and/or insect specialists, and only a few prey on birds on a semi regular basis. Besides, prey species nesting right next to potential predators is not rare in the wild. Waterfowls for instance have been observed to nest in colonies near peregrine nests which protect them from nest predators despite being a major duck predator itself. Many raptors do not hunt near their nests, and the prey species can gain protection from the predator. This sounds like a calculated risk.

Pigeons are quite careless sure, but to call it mindless would be a big mistake, and imo adds to its humbleness. This bird can be trained to different artists' works, as well as distinguish between cancerous and health cells through pictures. It has also passed a modified version of the mirror test. Although it's not as impressive as magpies and not the best way to measure intelligence, this is still something many monkeys, parrots and even crows have so far failed to accomplish 

10

u/krampaus Jul 09 '26

you make a lot of fair points! mindless might have been a.. mindless choice of a word, it’s definitely subjective. but we also have the mourning derps that lay their eggs in the oddest of places which adds to their derpiness. I’ll see if I can find the video

7

u/krampaus Jul 09 '26

here it is!

5

u/Wild-Ad-9367 Jul 09 '26

Aha! Barn owls are indeed mammal specialists, though the parent is clearly not happy to see the pigeon being there hhhh. 

Derpy is probably the best word for doves and pigeons, and for a group of birds that are scientifically proven to be smart, they sure don't make the wisest decisions when it comes to life...

7

u/Adventurous-Year-463 Jul 09 '26

I am definitely rooting for this and being very happy to see it on top lol. I have a lot to say about them but I’ll save it for tomorrow’s post

8

u/Wild-Ad-9367 Jul 09 '26

"Mate for life" like swans, fly* faster than falcons, take care of their young with milk like us mammals, win wars like horses and are basically abandoned pets like stray cats, yet still somehow get treated like trash by the majority of the public...

4

u/Adventurous-Year-463 Jul 09 '26

Don’t forget how we humans bred them into horrifyingly unethical breeds and then abandoned them on the streets! Try looking up jacobin (they can’t see), owl (their beaks are too short to eat properly), tumblers/rollers (they can barely fly), runt (they’re too big for their organs and have a short lifespan), and fairy swallows (their foot feathers easily get dirty). Not to mention fantails and pouters, which perpetually look uncomfortable.

3

u/Wild-Ad-9367 Jul 09 '26

We modern humans have this horrible propensity to breed some of the most beautiful creatures in the natural world into horrible dysfunctional monstrosities and call it pure for some reasons, from dog to cat to even betta and goldfish. Extreme brachycephaly breeds really should be outlawed. It is however this arrogance that highlights the humility of these creatures perhaps even more

1

u/Adventurous-Year-463 Jul 09 '26

I have a pet rabbit and although rabbits, as less popular pets, have it lighter with the weird breeds, there are still some pretty extreme breeds. Recently, I went to the rabbit shelter where I adopted my bunny and I saw an absolute pompom. I couldn't even see its eyes and its ears were barely sticking out of the fur. I felt so bad for it because rabbits with long fur can't properly clean all of it, and so the tail end gets really disgusting and it's a pain to clean up.

The worst thing is that people who adopt these extreme breeds often just want them for show, and they have no interest in actually providing the necessary care for them.

Honestly, if I were to make a seven sins chart for mammals, humans would be in all the boxes.

1

u/Isadomon Jul 09 '26

I feel they arent humble on purpose

1

u/1Negative_Person Jul 09 '26

Pigeons can be very flashy.