Fed up with wanton killing of songbirds

[Arik]

I have a problem with killing anything for the sake of killing it. I don't care if it's birds or coyotes or groundhogs. I believe in live and let live unless it's survival

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[brucev]

Never have made a habit of going around killing animals or birds for no reason. In season birds and animals are however another matter. Don't commonly kill those in season unless out hunting. Cannot remember ever killing a songbird. Same w/ buzzards, etc. Just never did it. Saw no point. That being said, do not at all see the killing of a songbird as anything more than at the most a misdemeanor, about like littering if that much. For the federal govt. to legislate on woodpeckers b/c they migrate is just the height of someone's long nose being pushed into everyone else's business. If they are pecking holes into someone's house, there is no good reason for the owner now to stop them. It's no different than when alligators were once so protected. They'd come up someone's yard and get a dog on a chain... etc. Know one gentleman who came home and found one of the things pushing under the fence in the backyard. Apparently it wanted to play with the two little girls who were playing in the yard.

 

[kozmic]

I happily subscribe to the belief held by a great many paleontologists that dinosaurs became birds.

I've seen a lot of old birds become dinosaurs right before my eyes!

Seriously, I see no reason to raise a gun (or bow or stick or stone) just for "the sake of killing something". It is against every law of nature.

I can get the deer out of my garden or the squirrels out of my bird feeders with just a clap of my hands. However stopping the skunks from digging up the perennial bulbs in my front yard does require a bit more finesse!

 

[BearBio]

I didn't look over all the posts but to answer the original questions:

1. Federal laws: You might look at the MBTA (Migratory Bird Treaty Act)= covers birds that cross political lines and are, therefore, migratory.

2. State laws: Look at your state under the general provisions. Most states have protections of songbirds.

 

[Jessie]

I won't shoot a bird, unless it tastes like turkey. I will shoot coyotes. They kill and eat everything. Song birds, turkeys, your pets and eggs and young of all. They reproduce like crazy also. You've probably read about the young girl in Canada who was also killed by coyotes.
I love dogs but dislike 'yotes.

 

[shouldazagged]

Cardinals have one of the most musical chirps. I wish they weren't so shy.

I had a couple of mourning doves land on my shed a while back. I hear them all the time but very seldom see them!

You wouldn't find cardinals here shy. I have them around my door all the time, working my suet-block feeders.

One of the great things about Ken Burns' "The Civil War" mini-series (which every documentary filmmaker has copied since) was the sound. An unforgettable scene, I think concerning the Shiloh battle, had doves hooting dolefully in the background. Eerie and moving.

I'm not a farmer or I might feel differently, but I have no quarrel with crows. Interesting and extremely initelligent birds.

 

[venomballistics]

some of the stories here in remind me of my dealings with a species of bird known as the American Woodcock.

Its a goofy, and charming bird that may stand as evidence that creation, however you believe it to be, does in fact have a sense of humor.

Part of its charm is in its defensive strategy.
Woodcocks tend to lay low in cover and stay hid till the threat passes.
If the threat comes too close, it springs to a flurry of activity that is rather convincing of a large predator.
This "too close" range is best measured in inches.
They will scare the bejeezus out of you, and probably invoke your fight or flight response.

I've laid waste to several of them, in several ways. some are amusing in retrospect.

As a kid, I played around with model rocketry a bit.
Well I had a launch issue where a fin got stripped off the rocket about 15 feet up.
It laid itself over and took a wild flight path out into the woods, causing me to grab a few jugs of water to put the fire out when I found the crash site.
After the flames where extinguished I detected some movement a few yards back along the flight path.
Eventually I found the bird, which I later identified as a woodcock, that I quite literally shot down with a rocket.
It succumbed to its injuries having been run through by basswood fragments from the rocket.

It was a Woodcock that was the first thing killed by my 44 magnum.
That Defense strategy was in full effect when this bird did its thing. I drew and fired to halt the perceived attack, Identifying the creature by its long beak and severed head.
Don't think I could repeat that shot. At least I used enough gun I guess.

In a similar case, I was unarmed and went hand to hand with one plastering it to a tree.

In each case ... I never intended to be the arch nemesis of the woodcock, But it sure was hard to avoid

 

[mickeyblueyes]

Karma ..........will seek out these fools and see to it that they suffer the same fate that they were happy to deliver............

With out birds???the earth would be 4 foot deep in bugs in 7 days..thats a facts. go ahead keep killing birds.

 

[HKB]

I belong to several archery/bowhunting forums and lately there have been a couple threads about killing songbirds with bow and arrow. I suspect these people are young and just getting involved with traditional archery and trying to kill SOMETHING to make them feel like they belong.

One guy bragged and took pictures of nailing a woodpecker to a tree with a flu-flu arrow. Another guy said something black appeared in front the target so he shot and hit it. It turned out to be a male ruby throated hummingbird. These kind of threads sicken me for both wanton killing and killing songbirds. What is more infuriating is the more immature members of the forum egg them on and make jokes about it.

I try to point out it is immature, illegal and just plain disgusting but I get shouted down by the wannabee bowhunters. I'd like to find a Federal source to report the next one I read about and see their butts burned.

I'd like to catch someone doing that.

 

[BaaBaa]

Don't get the hatred for crows unless you grow wheat.

Crows, ravens and magpies will kill lambs. Friend posted a picture last week of a ewe with her eyes being pecked out by crows. He got her inside but she will lose one eye. He got another picture yesterday of a lamb being attacked by a murder of crows. Even vultures will attack lambing ewes and kill lambs and eat them. They do not always wait for something to die first. Other aerial predators of sheep include eagles and owls. Fortunately most guardian dogs will protect against the birds as well as the 4-legged predators.

I have no love of birds that attack my stock but I can't do much about it.