• 2 Posts
  • 67 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: January 29th, 2024

help-circle

  • Foreigner@lemmy.worldtobirding@lemmy.worldBirding life
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    Basically a bird you’ve been trying to see multiple times but it’s eluded you so far. Other useful terms:

    • Lifer: A specific species of bird you’ve seen for the first time ever
    • Jizz: The bird’s ‘vibe’, if you will. Sometimes you can’t see or hear a bird well enough but you can tell what it is by a combination of factors like the way it flies/moves, its behaviour, location, etc. That’s jizz.
    • Little Brown Jobs/Birds (LBJ/Bs): Lots of birds are small, brown and look very alike. It’s hell to tell some of them apart.
    • Windfucker: this isn’t an actual useful term, it’s the old english name for a kestrel. I just find it very funny.

    Edited to format


  • Foreigner@lemmy.worldtobirding@lemmy.worldBirding life
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    Thanks to the ebird map I was able to pinpoint the exact spot I needed and saw a whole family of bearded reedlings last week! It’s truly amazing. A few other things I recommend:

    • Merlin app (free) - Shazam for birdsong. Also has helpful photos for ID, and can narrow down birds to the ones most likely to be in your area

    • Sibley birds app (paid) - digitalised bird ID book for birds in the Americas. Saves you from having to lug a heavy book around

    • Collins bird guide app (paid) - similar to the above but Europe focused

    • Birdingplaces website (free) - helpful if you’re looking for recommended spots to find birds. Each entry usually indicates recommended routes.

    • Bird journal mobile/desktop app (free) - you have to sideload this one on mobile, and it hasn’t been updated in years. However, I find it’s the easiest to use if you want to make a record of the species you’ve seen.

    Edit: I would be remiss if I didn’t also share guidelines for ethical birding:

    https://birdlife.org.au/how-to/ethical-birdwatching-guidelines/

    Tl/dr: Don’t get too close (especially around nests), don’t make too much noise, don’t mess with their habitat, don’t feed wild birds or use playback to attract them.


  • Foreigner@lemmy.worldtobirding@lemmy.worldBirding life
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    3 days ago

    Do iiiitttt!! You don’t need expensive equipment, a decent pair of 8×42 binoculars is enough to get started (I like Bushnell’s). It’s a great way to spend time in nature and it can make such a difference for your mental health. That is, until you run into your first nemesis bird. Then there’s only rage…














  • I think the fundamental difference between that experiment and the “suicide capsules” vs the death penalty is that in the *former the people going into it are doing so willingly. I imagine people undergoing the same procedure involuntarily will probably resist, hold their breath, panic, do whatever they can to sabotage the process, etc. The reason this method is rarely used to euthanise pets is precisely because of this - the animals get stressed (as many often do at the vet where they need to be for the procedure) panic, react, and it takes way longer than it should as a result.

    Edit: edited for clarity




  • I think I might be able to answer this one from my perspective. I was born in a Portuguese speaking country, so on paper my mother tongue should be Portuguese (which it sort of still is). But we moved when I was a kid and I lived in multiple countries, so I went to international schools for most of my life. English then became my mother tongue over time and it is dominant over Portuguese. I now work in an organisation where English is the main working language, but I live in France, so I acquired a third language, just not quite at native level. Here are some of the interesting things I’ve observed:

    • I have slightly different “personalities” in different languages. This may be a reflection of exposure to different cultures and times of my life I learned these languages, but also very much a confidence thing. I am funnier and at ease making jokes in English than the other two languages.
    • Some words I only learned in one language because of timing and circumstance. There are technical terms I know only in English because of my work. There are motorcycle parts I only know the name of in French because I bought my first bike here. I birdwatch, and for some birds’ names I default to English, while others I use their French name.
    • Because of moving around I was exposed to a lot of different cultures, which is awesome, but that means I have cultural weak ties to my countries of origin (I’m also mixed race). If anything the one cultural constant in my life has been anglophone media (especially American) which had a mot of influence. I identify more with Anglo-Saxon culture but also feel vaguely European. I even sound generically American, which throws some people off when they learn I never lived in the US nor Canada.
    • Knowing multiple languages fluently can obviously make it easier in some ways and make things more accessible. It also made me very adaptable. When I arrived in France I narely knew the language. Once I gained fluency, everything became much easier (well, as easy as this country can be).
    • One disadvantage is that in some ways I am always the “other” (though not just because of language). Everywhere I go I feel like a foreigner, hence the username. I speak English to my kids, and that makes me stand out and people treat me as if I’m some sort of exotic being. It’s gotten better now they’re in a more international school.
    • It’s harder to find people who “get it” because they lived through the same experiences.
    • At work I sometimes have meetings with Portuguese speaking people but I’m uncomfortable speaking Portuguese in a work setting because I miss many of the terms. So I often default to English which confuses people because I’m from a lusophone country and I speak fluently.

    There are some messier issues around identity that I won’t get into because those aren’t limited just to language, but the above are things that have stood out to me over the years.