You do have 93 views - but we didn’t have a picture or a story to share with you
Why is that? Do you have more of a reason?
Hv u seen my first comment in this thread?
It is a reality that very few number of persons love the birds. I hv several documentations on how did we drive them away from our localities. However, those r not required. Everybody Know the reasons. A simple google search like 'how to prevent birds from eating your fish/Fruits", 'Options to keep the birds away from a fish pond" etc will do.
I hv also posted few such instances in my posts in other threads also. But if it is decided that we, the most important animal species, have the right to destroy all the bird habitats and eat all the fish and fruits of this world, then there is no logic to unnecessary furnish any such instances.
You may read this and replies on that, if u r interested. However, I very much appreciate human personal comments (whether good or bad, polite or not) and don’t like chatGPT type replies.
This has been remarked upon many, many times in the forums, including admiration that identifications are made almost instantly off just terrible photos.
What exactly constitutes a “chatGPT type reply”?
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Yes, sadly, this was a factor in why eastern North America no longer has a native parrot: the Carolina Parakeet was in part a fruit eater (although its main diet was cocklebur seeds).
This isn’t just birds, though. Pretty much any forum related to gardening will be full of “How do I get rid of ____?” Fill in various species in the blank, it is always the same: getting rid and getting rid and getting rid. Gardening doesn’t awaken people to nature; it makes them want to get rid of nature.
I begin to understand that a lot of us misunderstood your thread title, “Why do you think birds are so popular?” It was less a question about why birds are popular (which you disagree with), and more about “what makes you think so?” in the way that a skeptic would ask. Am I correct?
Perhaps I am confused completely but the question in the title was composed by @AdamWargon who I do not think meant it skeptically.
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I’m substituting the word “chatGPT” with “AI Generated” (AI based ideal suggestions which the world has already framed). That is not my intention to know. They are readily available. I 'll love to hear what somebody personally thinks about anything which I want to know (Without any obligation to be always politically or factually correct, polite etc). If I remain extra careful every time to use my words to be very polite and politically correct, I won’t be able to express my own opinion, which may be a little blunt or totally wrong but it will be truly me and an opinion given from my genuine beliefs.
Pl don’t ask me who do u think etc…In that case I’ll ask AI 'What should I ideally reply to this question?". Copy the answer given by AI and paste it. Hahaha. I think I’ve already been cautioned a number of times for something which I said out of my belief but not considered as ideal.
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Yes, the title was composed by @AdamWargon who I also do not think meant it skeptically but I disagreed to his conclusive idea which I think is to the effect that “Birds are very popular or in other words everybody like birds”.
Everyone has listed the main reasons but I think another point is that because of birds’ typical ‘fuzziness’ people are more likely to enjoy them in the same way they do mammals. If someone is into nature more than the average person, they will likely enjoy birds because they are unique but still feel familiar. I also think people are fascinated by flight and the freedom of birds. In general, I think how people perceive animals plays a role in how popular they are. Notice how the only two insect logos are both butterflies. Which are often a considered a more elegant and pretty bug by most people. I think overall, popularity is influenced by how soft/beautiful/similar to humans broader societies/cultures perceive the animal; as people find their favorite niches further and further from this baseline, there are less people filling them (ex. bugs, crustaceans, corals, etc.)
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An addition:
Just look at how Wetlands/Lakes/ Bush land/Grassland/Forests/Rivers/IBA/Ramsar Sites rapidly disappearing, being polluted to a severe degree (including the rapidly increasing new addition- over-enthusiasm and noise pollution).Theories of “what to do” are only moral theories. No I am not overwhelmed by the number of likes a bird picture gets on any social media. They (the birds) did not get it. The uploader got them.
These two things are not the same at all. Additionally the second one is a false dichotomy.
The original premise was that birds are popular, well-liked. Not universally.
There are those who will not care for them especially, but I think what most posters are saying and referring to is that the reason birds are easily and quickly identified on iNaturalist is because they are indeed appreciated by many.
A number of people gave reasons for appreciation of birds. Some I had thought of, some I had not. I imagine that is the same for most everyone. Your “bird as food” response surprised me but then I remembered a book I had forty years ago, called Dutch Treat by an artist named Rien Poortvliet. It was a giant of a book with memories of his childhood in Holland with gorgeous little watercolors of a lot of nature, including songbirds shot for food during WWII.
(Another bird memory.)
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I agree. My mistake.
I disagree. Appreciated by many in iNaturalist Forum and other nature/bird lovers. But the percentage as a whole considering the total population is very very low.
Birds deserve that quite naturally in a Naturalist Forum. That is not surprising.
I’ll like to request u to read my other comments in this thread clarifying why I think Birds are not so popular (as we the bird lovers think).
However, if here popular means “well known”- I’ll agree, if popular means 'Well-liked"- I’ll disagree.
Birding/birdwatching is quickly becoming the most popular “optional” outdoor activity. “Optional” meaning an activity done primarily for recreation rather than subsistence or livelihood. In a 2022 USFWS study, it was estimated that over 35% of the nation’s adult population participated in birding/birdwatching (up from 20% in 2016, so a rapidly growing hobby). Saying birding is popular is not the same thing as saying that everyone likes or cares about birds, but it is more popular than other forms of taxa observing (e.g., herping, botanizing) by orders of magnitude.
Birds receive far more funding for research and conservation than other taxonomic groups. And so, while birds still face many serious conservation threats, I would still say they are popular relative to other taxonomic groups. Around 13% of bird species are threatened; compare that with the rates of other taxa: 40% amphibian species, 25% mammals, and 20% reptiles. There are many confounding factors, but I don’t think it’s too bold to say part of the reason birds face lower rates of endangerment is because humans find them to be charismatic.
Also, being popular doesn’t mean the population is well educated or even aware of the threats the group is facing. Someone can like birdwatching, but still maintain a “green desert” lawn. In the U.S., we spend an estimated $4 billion on birdseed annually. Imagine if we pooled that money and put it towards habitat conservation annually instead.
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The original poster was referring to the representation of birds compared to other taxa (e.g., the choices of icons for the regional sites, the proportion of bird observations and the rapidity with which they get IDs, funding for bird research). All these things suggest that birds are “popular” with that subset of humans who have an interest in nature.
People in general may not care much about birds, but the same is probably even more true for the average person’s attitudes towards wild plants, insects, spiders, etc.
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Maybe slightly off topic, but I wondered why iNat UK doesn’t have something that resonates with the UK more like a hedgehog for the icon.
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To be clear, I had already read your other posts.
I felt badly that you started a topic that got no replies. I did not see it at the time or I might have been tempted to tell you about Edessa rufomarginata and how they are attentive to the juveniles (so much more so than the Arvelius I see). I might even have shown you this Observation, only I cannot say which is the female and male of the species. So maybe I would have shown you this one instead to hedge my bets.
But having read your posts as well as those of others, and with my own life and experiences from which to draw, and also having reread the definition of “popular” to make sure I wasn’t casting meanings into the word that were not there, I still reach a different conclusion than you. I think that is OK.
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I have seen the awesome pics. Thanks a lot for referring those.
No, no- I was not referring that topic. I was telling about my other comments.
Anyways, I know that u hv seen them.
Absolutely no issues. My sincere regards to you and your honest and genuine personal opinion.
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If someone asks me, “Why do you think amphibians/ mammals (other than us)/ reptiles/wild plants/Trees/insects/spiders are so popular?”
My reply: I don’t think they are popular at all.
I think this is a great matter of concern for the birds. May not be. I’ll be very happy if I’m wrong in this respect. My sincere regards for your comment.
Story of a hated Bird
Greater Adjutant Storks of India Local name: Hargila (who can even swallow bones)
How will you treat these birds?
Meet these giant, ungainly bird s who may not be pretty-looking. They were long despised and treated as pest s only. Once could be found abundantly (depicted in the former Emblem of Kolkata Municipal Corporation as Nature cleaners) , the greater adjutant has now having only three small breeding area. A small area of Indian State Assam is the largest breeding population, one smaller is at a confined zone of Bihar of India. Besides these, the only other breeding population is in Cambodia. They feed mainly on carrion, rats, frogs, snakes etc. Once hated as a social menace and ominous bird, they declined owing to habitat loss to the point of endangerment. In 2007, number of Greater Adjutant Storks was estimated to as low as 450 only. Most of the remaining birds were then living on private property and that became a problem to save them from extinction.
- Purnima Devi Barman , an wildlife biologist , launched a one-woman campaign to teach local villagers in India’s Assam to value the storks. She founded an all-female conservation initiative named the Hargila Army or Stork Sisters, an all-female conservation initiative and educated the villagers about the ‘Pride of Assam’ storks, need for their conservation and how that can enhance their livelihoods.
- Arvind Mishra, With a Bihar community’s help, transformed another Indian community’s disgust for the giant storks into a strong desire to preserve them. He has established a rescue and rehabilitation center devoted exclusively to the care of downed Greater Adjutant chicks.
Barman and Mishra both serve as vibrant examples of how the continued commitment of just one person to a species can make the difference between conservation and extinction.
However, the increase in adjutant numbers now faces a new threat of poisonous substances spreading in its food and water sources. Poisoned fish, rodents and reptiles, have killed a number of birds in Bihar.
PS: The Indian as well as Long-billed, White-rumped Vultures are all victims of widespread use of drugs such as diclofenac which was the cause of kidney failure, food poisoning and deaths. All of them presently fall under CR category.
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There have been other discussions about the potentially adverse effects on birds of increased birding. A rare or vagrant bird shows up in an area, and the birding online social network quickly spreads the word. Next thing you know, the area is swarmed by life listers and others who are more concerned with getting their photo than with the stress the bird experiences from so many people seeking it out. I cringe a little when I see someone here on the Forums say “It doesn’t count if I didn’t get a photograph,” or words to that effect.
The flip side of that is that organisms which humans find to be charismatic face higher rates of poaching.
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