Birds are wild.

February 6, 2020 12:49 PM

Wild thing about birds... "wild thing about birds is that you can imagine a truly outrageous bird, like make up a bird on the spot, and the bird probably exists"
posted by vespabelle (16 comments total)

When we moved from our house into a 3rd floor condo, we put a bird feeder out on our deck. And I've really enjoyed watching the birds, and then following the "Every Bird" Twitter account, and then reading more stuff about birds and...I'm 52. I'm worried that I'm not only getting old, becoming an Old Man, but that also I may be heading towards become "Old Man, Bird-Watching Enthusiast Variant".
posted by Ipsifendus at 1:05 PM on February 6, 2020 [17 favorites]

This is great. A few months ago I was riding in a car looking out the window, and I saw this... insane mashup of a flamingo and a duck. Fortunately enough other people had made that comparison, so when I googled "flamingo duck" I found out about roseate spoonbills.

Now I want to know everything there is about this guy
posted by Mchelly at 1:16 PM on February 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

WTF BBC I found a cyborg bird.
posted by danielparks at 1:22 PM on February 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Penguins and owls REVEALED
posted by Caxton1476 at 1:46 PM on February 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

I found out about roseate spoonbills when I saw one in my neighborhood and googled "pink bird in florida not a flamingo". "Flamingo duck" is better.
posted by Daily Alice at 1:46 PM on February 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

the bird probably exists

False.
posted by solotoro at 2:01 PM on February 6, 2020 [7 favorites]

Birds are like Gremlins 2
posted by Sterros at 2:06 PM on February 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Birds aren't real
posted by BungaDunga at 2:44 PM on February 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

I would hope that recent history might make people a little hesitant to spread even obvious joke conspiracy theories.
posted by Pyry at 2:48 PM on February 6, 2020

Penguins and owls REVEALED

Bird ears.

You will never unsee it.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:30 PM on February 6, 2020 [8 favorites]

I feel like anhingas are highly underrated. They're not that fancy or anything, they're just over there being quietly cool on a rock.
posted by tobascodagama at 3:44 PM on February 6, 2020 [6 favorites]

.I'm 52. I'm worried that I'm not only getting old, becoming an Old Man, but that also I may be heading towards become "Old Man, Bird-Watching Enthusiast Variant".
posted by Ipsifendus

You say that like it's a bad thing....
posted by annieb at 4:42 PM on February 6, 2020 [12 favorites]

I'm 52. I'm worried that I'm not only getting old, becoming an Old Man, but that also I may be heading towards become "Old Man, Bird-Watching Enthusiast Variant".

The irony is not that it is happening to you. The irony is that it happens to everyone right at the age when your hearing and eyesight are on a serious downslope. Trying to observe a wren once you are finally mature enough to care about seeing a wren ...is very difficult unless you were precocious in adopting the interests of the grownups.
posted by srboisvert at 7:05 PM on February 6, 2020 [10 favorites]

Now I want to know everything there is about this guy

You're in luck. There's like half an hour in a David Attenborough-narrated BBC series dedicated to him and the other birds of paradise like him. I believe it's in the first Planet Earth. Just the most fabulous birds in those. Life of Birds is also Attenborough, and also wild.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:47 PM on February 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

I am a, well, some might say avid, some might say obsessed, birder turning 50 this year. Progressive lenses are terrible for birding, so I've really upped my birding by ear game in the past few years. I live in fear of the day all of the very loud concerts in very small bars I went to in my 20s catches up to my hearing. On the positive side, maybe I'll have to get lens replacement surgery by then so my eyes improve as my hearing nosedives. In short, birds are cool, go look at them.
posted by mollweide at 4:47 AM on February 7, 2020 [4 favorites]

Birds are so metal.
These are my top 10 most punk birds
posted by mcstayinskool at 12:49 PM on February 7, 2020 [2 favorites]