Week #51 brings us to birds with stripes, spots or freckles. I thought of this challenge because I was a little freckle faced kid.
Birds are hunted for sport and for eating. While my opinion is exceptionally one-sided, I do not condone the killing of birds for sport. I know that it is necessary to thin species out like big wild game such as deer and elk, but I don’t see the point of it unless it is to put food on the table. Many of our favorite edibles are farm raised. For many years, these birds have been kept in small quarters and not allowed to graze and be happy birds. In the last few decades, awareness has shown new trends of “grass fed”, “organic fed” “no hormones or antibiotics” and “happy free range” which indicates these birds have a happy life while they are here. It keeps them from being stressed out and makes our food a lot tastier.
Birds are hunted for sport and for eating. While my opinion is exceptionally one-sided, I do not condone the killing of birds for sport. I know that it is necessary to thin species out like big wild game such as deer and elk, but I don’t see the point of it unless it is to put food on the table. Many of our favorite edibles are farm raised. For many years, these birds have been kept in small quarters and not allowed to graze and be happy birds. In the last few decades, awareness has shown new trends of “grass fed”, “organic fed” “no hormones or antibiotics” and “happy free range” which indicates these birds have a happy life while they are here. It keeps them from being stressed out and makes our food a lot tastier.
I visited Tree Hill Nature Center in Jacksonville, Florida about a week ago to primarily to do some birding with Frank. There were loads of birds out, the temperature was mild for a change and we were outside not sweating. Tree HIll is a nature preserve that I will write about in a future post. It is deserving to have its own spotlight and is the home to several goats, chickens, an alligator and a Barred Owl.
Some species like the white geese will become aggressive if you feed them. On more than one occasion, this has happened to us. The Florida State Fair Authority in Tampa had to have them removed from the grounds because they were attacking people getting out of their cars at the Administrative Building. The Florida Fish & Wildlife relocated them to a different location.
I think everyone has seen a seagull at some point in their lives. They are not just a coastal species, they are inland as well. Generally, they don’t venture out to sea, except the kittiwakes. They are closely related to the terns and distantly related to auks, skimmers and other waders. They range is size of 11 1/2″ to 30″ and all basically have the same shape.
Week #10 challenge was Yellow or Orange Legged Birds. Lots of ducks and shorebirds, chickens and penguins, a loon and a Scarlet Ibis! Pelicans are my favorite bird…sorry for the prejudiceness, but they are and we had some people American White Pelicans adorn our monitors this week.
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