George London
Well-known member
I can understand game birds and other birds that are shot. I can understand birds that are illegally persecuted.
What I can't quite understand is why pretty much ALL birds are so scared of us. Particularly passerines. Sometimes I get close to wrens, robins and tits, but even with these guys I can just as easily find them fleeing at the mere sight of me (although I guess some humans are like that too! Last weekend there were green woodpeckers fleeing at 30 plus yards (interestingly, probably about the range of a shotgun). When was the last time any of these birds were genuinely imperilled by individual humans - trashing their habitat is another matter, but I don't believe they are intelligent enough to make that connection.
However, I do believe they are intelligent enough to identify and weigh up a threat; i would suggest most of us have seen this many, many times. There are hundreds of documentaries showing that prey understands when an animal is not in 'hunting' mode and happy to get closer to that predator at these times. And that even if an animal is in 'hunting' mode, many are still acutely aware of the predator's speed and skills, adjusting accordingly - rather than simply disappearing off into the sunset. And prey seems to know what its predators are and what aren't.
The only answer I can think of and sort of get my head around is that over the millennia birds and most other animals have simply become hard wired into perceiving any human figure in pretty much any situation as a genuine and all reaching threat.
Can anyone solve this for me? Cheers George
What I can't quite understand is why pretty much ALL birds are so scared of us. Particularly passerines. Sometimes I get close to wrens, robins and tits, but even with these guys I can just as easily find them fleeing at the mere sight of me (although I guess some humans are like that too! Last weekend there were green woodpeckers fleeing at 30 plus yards (interestingly, probably about the range of a shotgun). When was the last time any of these birds were genuinely imperilled by individual humans - trashing their habitat is another matter, but I don't believe they are intelligent enough to make that connection.
However, I do believe they are intelligent enough to identify and weigh up a threat; i would suggest most of us have seen this many, many times. There are hundreds of documentaries showing that prey understands when an animal is not in 'hunting' mode and happy to get closer to that predator at these times. And that even if an animal is in 'hunting' mode, many are still acutely aware of the predator's speed and skills, adjusting accordingly - rather than simply disappearing off into the sunset. And prey seems to know what its predators are and what aren't.
The only answer I can think of and sort of get my head around is that over the millennia birds and most other animals have simply become hard wired into perceiving any human figure in pretty much any situation as a genuine and all reaching threat.
Can anyone solve this for me? Cheers George