I genuinely need help understanding something (1 Viewer)

[Birdgirllie]

If you were this bird, wouldn’t you fight back? Wouldn’t you fight to escape? Why didn’t this bird ight back or escape whatsoever? Why did the bird just remain standing still and not do anything? The bird could have flown away, kicked with its legs, packed with its beak, fight with its entire body, etc. what did the bird not do anything at all?


Why do some in the commenters in this TY video say that this is cute, or looks completely harmless to us. But to the bird it is incredibly terrifying, I personally don’t see anything scary about this, could someone please enlighten me?

More specifically, I’m not referring to the music or the fact that the human freed the bird, I am referring more so to the human picking up the bird. I mean, if you were scared wouldn’t you fight back or escape? I didn’t see the bird doing any of that, etc.

This is the comment I am referring to, can someone please explain what is meant by both of them? What is so scary about this? And in the second comment what did they mean by “ crush me with a snap”

“It's cute for us, but for a bird... The titan literally grabbed her and went somewhere.”



“too, would also scream my lungs out if I was grabbed by a gigantic entity that could crush me with just a snap”

 

[Leafbringer]

Hello, welcome to birdforum, I've just had a look at the video.

As for the bird, it looks young (it may be a juvenile starling), since it still has the yellow gape. If it is a young bird, it's inexperienced/naive since it didn't try to flee the person's hand before it got caught. So when it got caught, it was terrified and didn't know what to do, so it screamed. Fledglings/young birds tend to tag along with their parents for some time before they become adults, so this one could've been screaming for its parents.

The bird couldn't have struggled out of this person's grip, since it was rather tight. As for fighting in other ways, it was probably overcome with fear, and fear doesn't always lead to a "fight" response. Fear can lead to other responses like flight (escape), freeze, and fawn (appeasement). This bird was panicking.

Why do some people in the comments say it's cute or harmless? Possibly because they don't know much about birds and/or they thought the video was funny. From their perspective, the bird didn't look visibly hurt by the encounter and it flew away afterwards when released.

Regarding the comments, this bird was scared because it is a prey animal and it got caught by something it assumed was a predator. Imagine if you were grabbed by a tiger and then it just started walking, that would be the rough equivalent. Just as this bird could've been crushed and killed, since it is fragile, a human could easily be crushed by the strength of a tiger's jaws. I hope this example helps you understand the bird's fear.

This bird didn't know the person's intention, so unsurprisingly, it feared for its life. So when people rescue birds, they have to be careful because birds usually can't distinguish between attempted predation and rescue.

 

[Birdgirllie]

Hello, welcome to birdforum, I've just had a look at the video.

As for the bird, it looks young (it may be a juvenile starling), since it still has the yellow gape. If it is a young bird, it's inexperienced/naive since it didn't try to flee the person's hand before it got caught. So when it got caught, it was terrified and didn't know what to do, so it screamed. Fledglings/young birds tend to tag along with their parents for some time before they become adults, so this one could've been screaming for its parents.

The bird couldn't have struggled out of this person's grip, since it was rather tight. As for fighting in other ways, it was probably overcome with fear, and fear doesn't always lead to a "fight" response. Fear can lead to other responses like flight (escape), freeze, and fawn (appeasement). This bird was panicking.

Why do some people in the comments say it's cute or harmless? Possibly because they don't know much about birds and/or they thought the video was funny. From their perspective, the bird didn't look visibly hurt by the encounter and it flew away afterwards when released.

Regarding the comments, this bird was scared because it is a prey animal and it got caught by something it assumed was a predator. Imagine if you were grabbed by a tiger and then it just started walking, that would be the rough equivalent. Just as this bird could've been crushed and killed, since it is fragile, a human could easily be crushed by the strength of a tiger's jaws. I hope this example helps you understand the bird's fear.

This bird didn't know the person's intention, so unsurprisingly, it feared for its life. So when people rescue birds, they have to be careful because birds usually can't distinguish between attempted predation and rescue.

Crushed? Is there no way the bird could have escaped even if it did start kicking, packing, flying away? I mean, the bird has its entire body to fight with. Are they really that fragile?

 

[Leafbringer]

Crushed? Is there no way the bird could have escaped even if it did start kicking, packing, flying away? I mean, the bird has its entire body to fight with. Are they really that fragile?

Yes, birds in general are incredibly fragile, and the smaller they are, the more delicate their bodies are. Their bones are hollow and light, so they can fly, but this also means they can break more easily against physical force. Even just one broken wing is usually a death sentence in the wild without help from wildlife rehabs. Flightless birds like emus and ostriches, are less fragile because their size and powerful legs also help defend against predators.

Larger birds with stronger natural weapons, like eagles with their sharp beaks and claws, have a better chance of escape. But this is a small bird, its body is encompassed by that person's hand. Wriggling, pecking, kicking its legs would do little to help it escape. The odds of it escaping a secure human grasp would be almost impossible.

By "almost impossible", I mean that the person would have to be sufficiently distracted or startled to loosen their grip on the bird, make a mistake/trip over something, or the bird gets lucky and pecks the person in the eye (if said person were careless enough), causing them to let it go.

 

[Birdgirllie]

Yes, birds in general are incredibly fragile, and the smaller they are, the more delicate their bodies are. Their bones are hollow and light, so they can fly, but this also means they can break more easily against physical force. Even just one broken wing is usually a death sentence in the wild without help from wildlife rehabs. Flightless birds like emus and ostriches, are less fragile because their size and powerful legs also help defend against predators.

Larger birds with stronger natural weapons, like eagles with their sharp beaks and claws, have a better chance of escape. But this is a small bird, its body is encompassed by that person's hand. Wriggling, pecking, kicking its legs would do little to help it escape. The odds of it escaping a secure human grasp would be almost impossible.

By "almost impossible", I mean that the person would have to be sufficiently distracted or startled to loosen their grip on the bird, make a mistake/trip over something, or the bird gets lucky and pecks the person in the eye (if said person were careless enough), causing them to let it go.

So, the bird couldn’t actually do anything? I would think the bird could given that it would be fighting back with its entire body. In the video, the bird didn’t even try, Let’s just say theoretically if the bird was putting in a whole bunch of effort, everything they had, they still not get away? Kind of mean to just pick up a bird like that knowing this… just saying it would entirely be up to the human?

 

[mjh73]

That bird weights 70-100 grams. It's not fighting off a human.

 

[mjh73]

The natural reaction of birds is flight rather than fight, for good reason. They are proportionally small compared to humans and quick. Even a very big bird like a Golden Eagle will be ~5kg. With the right hold its going nowhere.

As someone who has done bird banding, where you are using fine nets to carefully catch birds (in a way they are restrained and unlikely to damage themselves), when extracting from the nets they will tend to be pretty grumpy and bitey. But sometimes they are just like this bird - noisy in the hope other birds will come to help because they don't see a viable strategy for escape, which is probably fair.

You have to grip them in a particular way so they cannot move and injure their wings while not restrictive to their breathing.

 

[Leafbringer]

So, the bird couldn’t actually do anything? I would think the bird could given that it would be fighting back with its entire body. In the video, the bird didn’t even try, Let’s just say theoretically if the bird was putting in a whole bunch of effort, everything they had, they still not get away? Kind of mean to just pick up a bird like that knowing this… just saying it would entirely be up to the human?

No, the bird couldn't do anything, no how hard it struggled. The distressed bird you saw in that video was at the mercy of that person. Fortunately for it, it was only captured to be released outside (i.e. rescued). There's only a few circumstances when it would be humane and okay to handle wild birds, e.g. scientific research (including bird banding), and rescuing trapped, injured or sick birds.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Crushed? Is there no way the bird could have escaped even if it did start kicking, packing, flying away? I mean, the bird has its entire body to fight with. Are they really that fragile?

It's 'entire body' probably weights less than 100g, not much of a contest.

Now, if you ever find a Swan in your house, that's a different matter!