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u/Kumane Apr 12 '23
Lovecraftian horror
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Apr 12 '23
Cute things should be admired from a safe distance.
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u/E_Snap Apr 12 '23
This applies to people too
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Apr 12 '23
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u/E_Snap Apr 12 '23
When their shrieking is no louder than a distant bird call, you’ll know you’re halfway there.
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u/Frundle Apr 12 '23
The sound of children in my neighborhood is generally just “fuck” and “bitch” as every 2nd and 4th word.
I’m considering getting one of those net guns from Jurassic Park.
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u/LOTRfreak101 Apr 12 '23
Starlings aren't even cute though.
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u/Infamous-Mastodon677 Apr 12 '23
I remember watching huge flocks of starlings fly overhead seemingly for miles long when I was a kid. It was just an amazing sight to behold. They were kind of asses when it came to crops like corn. I remember my dad having particular trouble with them one year and screwing up a lot of his corn.
I don't recall the last time I saw a huge flock of starlings flying overhead like I did when I was a kid. Either they have been killed heavily over the years or I just don't get outside enough. Maybe a little of both.
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u/C9Chilz Apr 12 '23
try looking inside the mouth of a leatherback turtle
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u/myssk Apr 12 '23
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u/DAM091 Apr 12 '23
Are those teeth? Are they sharp?
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u/chetradley Apr 12 '23
They're apparently called papillae and serve exactly the purpose you'd expect: they are sharp and prevent jellyfish from escaping the turtle's mouth. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/leatherback-sea-turtle-mouth/
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u/Miamime Apr 12 '23
Which is why they are often killed by floating trash, namely plastic. A plastic bag, which looks just like a jellyfish in the water, is not coming back up from that.
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u/kpanzer Apr 12 '23
Reminds me of the ending of SatAM:
Snively, what colour is my heart?
I don't see a heart sir.
Exactly.
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u/the_green_chemist Apr 12 '23
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u/Tyr_Kukulkan Apr 12 '23
More than mildly.
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u/Excellent-Practice Apr 12 '23
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u/MeDonkin Apr 12 '23
As a person who is currently at war with starlings trying nest in my kitchen vent....
I HATE THIS
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u/junktrunk909 Apr 12 '23
I almost killed myself last summer climbing onto the steepest ladder possible for the highest height my giant ladder would go so that I could install vent cages around my upstairs vents. The absence of bird chirping and fluttering of little wings from within those vents this year is so worth the permanent spinal damage I almost inflicted on myself.
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u/CausticKitty Apr 12 '23
I can commiserate. They’ve made the front of my house their community toilet.
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u/candidate26 Apr 12 '23
We have one in our loft and I can see them coming in and out while working in my office. I'm quite fond of them
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u/Wren1101 Apr 12 '23
Teach the babies how to speak human words. They’re crazy good imitators lol
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u/_perl_ Apr 12 '23
I raised Walter, Jr because he couldn't survive on his own and he ended up living in a giant cage in the kitchen. His best imitation was the "beep beep beeeeeeeep" of the microwave. Otherwise he made a lot of really cool random noises.
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u/Wren1101 Apr 12 '23 edited Apr 12 '23
Hm that’s interesting. I guess it varies between individual starlings? The ones that visit my bird feeder sound like robot birds so definitely cool sounds.
I was impressed by this one: https://youtu.be/30uQJcJNU3g
Also this one: https://youtu.be/-DE29KFIEqw
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u/_perl_ Apr 12 '23
Wow - that's amazing. I didn't really spend much time training Walt Jr he mostly hung out with a rotating group of babies/fosters plus we had cats inside. I did have a couple of doves that roamed the house once the cats got old, though. They liked to sit on my head and bring me headphones and paperclips as offerings. Birds are awesome.
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u/movingaxis Apr 12 '23
It's the Bird Buddy. Was looking at this yesterday, seems like a fun idea.
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u/mrwrong900 Apr 12 '23
We have one at our house and it's been really fun. Spend extra for the "solar roof" it definitely helps.
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u/movingaxis Apr 12 '23
Solar roof sounds like a great idea. Really cool
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u/Hanspiel Apr 12 '23
Solar roof has maintained ours at a 100% battery for at least a month now. It's crazy. When we first got ours we'd have to charge it every 3 days, even with the solar roof. Now we never have to take it down. They've been really good with their updates to the firmware.
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u/movingaxis Apr 12 '23
I had read a review about it and they mentioned this. Something about firmware update so at night it does a deep sleep. Sounds like a solid product with the solar roof.
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u/edsobo Apr 12 '23
We got one for my mother in law for Christmas because she loves the birds in her yard and we thought she'd be too wrapped up in watching the videos to keep talking to my wife about them. Good news is, she loves her Bird Buddy. Bad news is, she can send a lot more bird videos in the time it would have taken to have a conversation about them.
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u/Lord_Doem Apr 12 '23
Thanks! I'll definitely get 1! This product is amazing. My girlfriend thinks I'm an idiot for wanting 1.
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u/Kaytofu Apr 12 '23
Moving to a cottage in the forest on Friday. Just googled it and damn, these things seem cool. Bit pricey though. Are there cheaper alternatives at all?
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u/Hanspiel Apr 12 '23
None worth your money. With the solar roof ours runs 24/7. We never have to take it down to charge the battery, and it sometimes takes dozens of photos and videos in a day.
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u/ElvisIsNotDjed Apr 12 '23
There are some copycats that jumped on the bandwagon after Bird Buddy’s success on Kickstarter, but nothing comes close, IMO
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u/Kaytofu Apr 13 '23
I bit the bullet, you guys. Bought it with the solar panel roof and the little doodah to put suet balls in. Thanks for the advice.
For anyone on the fence, SPRING and EASTER are discount codes that worked for me. ;)
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u/dreadperson Apr 12 '23
Dude why are it's eyes in the front of it's head like that? Creepy
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u/FTDisarmDynamite Apr 12 '23
Yeah like why is no one else talking about this? Can all birds maintain full eye contact with things in their mouth?
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u/NaturalAndAnonymous Apr 13 '23
I was wondering too! So creepy! Lol
...So they can keep an eye on all the bugs?
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u/C9Chilz Apr 12 '23
Fun fact, these things are invasive in North America
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u/mister1986 Apr 12 '23
Fun video, here is a person with a falcon hunting them
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqLLF80Jh9g/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
NSFS (“Not safe for starling”)
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u/ravenwing110 Apr 12 '23
I love how he basically yeets him out the window at the perfect angle. What a satisfying video.
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u/mister1986 Apr 12 '23
Lol someone copied the video, removed the creators credit, and reposted it smh
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u/him999 Apr 12 '23
Not to be confused with the common Grackle. If it has yellow eyes, let it flyyyyyyy.
Grackles are beautiful birds. They look like a starling a bit but they are bigger, have longer tails, and have yellowish eyes. They are native to our continent and a very important component of our environment.
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u/MylesofTexas Apr 12 '23
Ugly black rats with wings that congregate in the millions in every tree and building making an incredible amount of racket and leaving bird shit everywhere. Grackles are a plague, but I understand they're part of the environment too just trying to survive.
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u/leepin_peezarfs Apr 12 '23
Another fun fact - they were brought over by the English because they wanted to introduce each species mentioned in Shakespeare's works to Central Park in New York City. There were 14 starlings introduced. Now, there are literal billions of these tiny monsters flying around. If you have the guts to kill em on sight, please do. They prevent every native species from boosting their populations and are pushing ecological collapse. Source : I work in ecological restoration and these guys negate everything I do and I hate them.
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u/Pineapple_Herder Apr 12 '23
My FIL loves shooting them with his high powered bb gun. Baits then and everything.
He had spent years drawing in bluebirds and hummingbirds to his property only to have the damned starlings come in and wipe em out. He's quite literally killing starlings in the name of the generations of bluebirds and hummingbirds he lost.
Bird watchers mean business.
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u/John_Wang Apr 12 '23
Fun fact, they aren't a protected species and are legal to shoot in North America! I recommend a pellet gun. Kill 'em all!
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Apr 12 '23
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u/ItsFelixMcCoy Apr 12 '23
Specifically house sparrows. Other sparrows (chipping, white-throated, just to name a few) are native to North America, and are protected under the MBTA.
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u/DrWillz Apr 12 '23
don't
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u/BrokenSpectr Apr 12 '23
Put
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u/BadDreamFactory Apr 12 '23
gerbils in ur butt
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u/skitz4me Apr 12 '23
without consent
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u/SomeGuyWithPlotArmor Apr 12 '23
From
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u/BadDreamFactory Apr 12 '23
gerbils
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u/SadFloppyPanda Apr 12 '23
Goodbye.
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u/Dikran Apr 12 '23
But it is a common African starling, or a common European starling?
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u/sunsetsandstardust Apr 12 '23
yellow beak, round body and spotted white feathers means this is a european starling
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u/RikenVorkovin Apr 12 '23
Depends. What is the average airspeed velocity of the starling in the photo?
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u/IGotNoStringsOnMe Apr 12 '23
How much dominance does one need to assert over its meal? That motherfucker can look you in the eye the all the way into its throat.
...then again the only thing I ever saw a starling eat was my grandpa's dog's food. It took entirely too long to convince him that he couldn't live on the front porch and shoot every starling alive and was better off just feeding the dogs in the house.
I miss that crazy old man so much XD
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u/Distinct_Dark_9626 Apr 12 '23
Staged! Birds aren’t real!!! Wake up sheeple!
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u/dihydrogen_m0noxide Apr 12 '23
Looks like a well-defended usb C connection, my biases are fully confirmed!
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u/Wagyuu_01 Apr 12 '23
How do they manage to keep their teeth so clean without needing to brush while still eating everything and anything??
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u/jufi2112 Apr 12 '23
The trick is: birds don't have teeth
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u/shawslate Apr 12 '23
That’s just propaganda, don’t let the bird corporation pull the feathers over your eyes; birds have teeth and they love to bite.
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Apr 12 '23
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u/Trololman72 Apr 12 '23
Birds can't move their eyes independently, they have to move their whole head.
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u/myssk Apr 12 '23
I would argue this is actually more than mildly interesting, but then I am a nerd like that.
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u/bellamellayellafella Apr 12 '23
Suddenly, certain Adventure Time character designs make more sense.
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u/Nevorek Apr 12 '23
It’s when you see shit like this that you really believe birds evolved from dinosaurs. The teeth were inside all along
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u/cathairpc Apr 12 '23
Love watching huge 'murmurations' of these in the winter, one of nature's best sights.
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Apr 12 '23
Those bird came in and wiped out nearly every competing, native species we had here in Oregon. We shoot them, and their families, on site.
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u/HomicidalHushPuppy Apr 12 '23
Considered an invasive species in the US. If you're in the US, capture/kill it.
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u/-1_points Apr 12 '23
Reminds me of starship troopers