PW's Sparrow Space
Mar 6, 2018 19:09:10 GMT
Post by PrairieWolf on Mar 6, 2018 19:09:10 GMT
I'll preface this by saying I am licensed to handle the birds I post here. My job is to capture birds that get stuck inside stores like Walmart and Lowe's and relocate them - I don't just tackle birds on the street. Do not handle wild birds unless you are licensed in your state or country. There are certain laws in the US for handle native species of bird and you can get in a world of trouble if you're caught mucking with them without authorization.
Anyway, I catch birds for a living and, this being an animal game and all, I would assume y'all are fans of animals. I thought it would be interesting to share my catches. I'll be updating the main thread whenever I fancy posting some new pix.
*All images are on Imgur because I can't be assed to painstakingly upload them all onto here.
Plain Janes
This is where the most common birds I catch (house sparrows, european starlings, and pigeons) will go. These are all invasive species, meaning they were introduced by humans and are now wreaking havoc on native habitats and species.
Extremely disgruntled female house sparrow
You can really see the rage in her eyes.
Pretty boy male house sparrow
Some are definitely prettier than others.
Pigeon, feathered football
If you've ever held a pigeon, you'll know how dense they are. My coworker described them as "flying meatballs" and I think that's a fantastic description.
Stinky starling
Starlings are oily, mean, smelly birds, but at least their breeding plumage is pretty.
The Home Team
These are native species. These birds, when caught, are released immediately outside of the building I catch them in and are not allowed by law to be relocated.
Carolina wren
Carolina wren - angery
One of my favorite birds, the carolina wren. If you live in the eastern United States, you've probably heard its' tea-kettle tea-kettle song. That call is the sound of my childhood, so it was really special to me that I got to handle one. The wren clearly felt differently.
Uncomfortable dark-eyed junco
I caught 15 of these guys at a Lowe's. They're adorable and make robot sounds.
Eastern bluebird
These birds are gorgeous in person. Their feathers shimmer all kinds of blue in the sun. They're also pretty small, but I have tiny girl hands that make him look huge.
Juvenile red-tailed hawk
When I was in early elementary school I remember a huge red-tailed hawk landing on the basketball hoop directly outside of my classroom. The teacher stopped everything and the whole class spent at least an hour just watching it. I think that experience, as small as it was, was one of the biggest influences to why I love birds so much. There was just something so incredible and wild and primal about a raptor like that and it really made me feel connected to the world around me. I felt the exact same thing standing outside a Lowe's staring at this thing for 45 minutes when I should have been working.
White-throated sparrow
Eyebrows on fleek.
Song sparrow, a portrait
Song sparrow, an unflattering angle
These guys are a real bitch to catch. They like to hide in pallets and fly low, so it's really difficult to flush them out and into the nets.
Fell In Radioactive Material
These are birds that have some sort of abnormality or look otherwise weird. Being an aspiring ornithologist and evolutionary biologist, I find these genetic mutations fascinating. I might share my theories on the whole thing here also.
Black-beaked female house sparrow
Female house sparrows usually have pink-brown bills while males have black, so it's pretty strange to find a female with a black beak. Even stranger, I found two - both in different populations more than two hundred miles apart. House sparrows have a home range of about five miles, so these two populations should have been isolated from each other, and yet the mutation showed up in both populations. It could be that this is just an uncommon trait and not a mutation but it's still odd to me.
Melanistic male house sparrow
Melanistic female house sparrow
These were really interesting to find. Especially considering I was able to see both male and female melanism in house sparrows and in the same population as a leucistic female house sparrow.
*Melanism is the overproduction of the black pigment melanin - the opposite of albinism. It causes darker or black coloration.
Leucistic female house sparrow
Leucistic female house sparrow - wings
I was extremely excited to find this girl. I've seen leucism in sparrows before but not to this extent. It was mostly focused on her wings - primary and secondary feathers.
*Leucism is a lack of several types of pigments - not only melanin, like albinism. It often results in patches of white.
If y'all have any questions about my job or the birds themselves, just ask. I love my work and I'm glad to share it all with people that have similar interests to me.
Anyway, I catch birds for a living and, this being an animal game and all, I would assume y'all are fans of animals. I thought it would be interesting to share my catches. I'll be updating the main thread whenever I fancy posting some new pix.
*All images are on Imgur because I can't be assed to painstakingly upload them all onto here.
Plain Janes
This is where the most common birds I catch (house sparrows, european starlings, and pigeons) will go. These are all invasive species, meaning they were introduced by humans and are now wreaking havoc on native habitats and species.
Extremely disgruntled female house sparrow
You can really see the rage in her eyes.
Pretty boy male house sparrow
Some are definitely prettier than others.
Pigeon, feathered football
If you've ever held a pigeon, you'll know how dense they are. My coworker described them as "flying meatballs" and I think that's a fantastic description.
Stinky starling
Starlings are oily, mean, smelly birds, but at least their breeding plumage is pretty.
The Home Team
These are native species. These birds, when caught, are released immediately outside of the building I catch them in and are not allowed by law to be relocated.
Carolina wren
Carolina wren - angery
One of my favorite birds, the carolina wren. If you live in the eastern United States, you've probably heard its' tea-kettle tea-kettle song. That call is the sound of my childhood, so it was really special to me that I got to handle one. The wren clearly felt differently.
Uncomfortable dark-eyed junco
I caught 15 of these guys at a Lowe's. They're adorable and make robot sounds.
Eastern bluebird
These birds are gorgeous in person. Their feathers shimmer all kinds of blue in the sun. They're also pretty small, but I have tiny girl hands that make him look huge.
Juvenile red-tailed hawk
When I was in early elementary school I remember a huge red-tailed hawk landing on the basketball hoop directly outside of my classroom. The teacher stopped everything and the whole class spent at least an hour just watching it. I think that experience, as small as it was, was one of the biggest influences to why I love birds so much. There was just something so incredible and wild and primal about a raptor like that and it really made me feel connected to the world around me. I felt the exact same thing standing outside a Lowe's staring at this thing for 45 minutes when I should have been working.
White-throated sparrow
Eyebrows on fleek.
Song sparrow, a portrait
Song sparrow, an unflattering angle
These guys are a real bitch to catch. They like to hide in pallets and fly low, so it's really difficult to flush them out and into the nets.
Fell In Radioactive Material
These are birds that have some sort of abnormality or look otherwise weird. Being an aspiring ornithologist and evolutionary biologist, I find these genetic mutations fascinating. I might share my theories on the whole thing here also.
Black-beaked female house sparrow
Female house sparrows usually have pink-brown bills while males have black, so it's pretty strange to find a female with a black beak. Even stranger, I found two - both in different populations more than two hundred miles apart. House sparrows have a home range of about five miles, so these two populations should have been isolated from each other, and yet the mutation showed up in both populations. It could be that this is just an uncommon trait and not a mutation but it's still odd to me.
Melanistic male house sparrow
Melanistic female house sparrow
These were really interesting to find. Especially considering I was able to see both male and female melanism in house sparrows and in the same population as a leucistic female house sparrow.
*Melanism is the overproduction of the black pigment melanin - the opposite of albinism. It causes darker or black coloration.
Leucistic female house sparrow
Leucistic female house sparrow - wings
I was extremely excited to find this girl. I've seen leucism in sparrows before but not to this extent. It was mostly focused on her wings - primary and secondary feathers.
*Leucism is a lack of several types of pigments - not only melanin, like albinism. It often results in patches of white.
If y'all have any questions about my job or the birds themselves, just ask. I love my work and I'm glad to share it all with people that have similar interests to me.
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