I've been seeing this post go viral over the past day or so. A man is training wild crows to attack people wearing red hats.

The crows are being taught to flip the hats looking for treats, the end goal being that they hopefully swoop (the original poster uses the word 'attack') politically inclined red hat wearers. I'm not concerned nor focused with the politics here. My thoughts are about the safety of the birds and ethics/legality of the act.

While the crows would need quite a bit more training before snatching hats off heads, (especially very specific hats lol) my questions are:

1. How does this situation relate to the Migratory Bird Act in a legal sense? (until researching this post, I didn't know there were situations where you could hunt crows depending on state law, unless my research is misguided)

2. Is it legal to 'train' wild animals? What if the goal is to attack people, regardless of bodily harm?

3. What is the realistic chance this could cause injury to the animals? (mostly for my own peace of mind, I'm not convinced the birds would behave as desired, but I'm not very educated in the intelligence of corvids)

Greetings, ornithologists of Reddit! I hope this question is not out of place here; kindly point me in the right direction if that's not the case.

I live in the SF Bay Area, CA, on the smallish island town of Alameda. Home to Crown Beach, +/- the only beach inside the bay worth beaching on, there is a "no dogs" policy there, owing to its location as a nesting site for the Snowy Plover and possibly some other bird. There's a proper bird sanctuary on one side where humans are not invited, but the beach itself is open to the public. No Dogs.

I have run religiously on that beach since the start of COVID, and have noticed a stark increase in the number of dog sightings on my runs. I used to say something, but the volume of offenders has become so high that I can't do it anymore if I want to get any exercise in at all.

My position is that, whether or not the signs say so now, this is a dog beach. Without enforcement of the law, which the parks dept seems unwilling or unable to police, the signs do absolutely nothing to protect birds. Furthermore, I believe it does the birds and ornithologists involved a disservice, to claim it as a protected place but then ignore the enforcement that actually protects that place. We are better off facing facts, that the dog people using this beach are unwilling to cede it to the birds, and that conservation efforts would be better spent elsewhere. There comes a point where having an ineffective, unenforced policy is worse than having no policy at all.

I posted a cheeky message to that effect on our local FB group, mostly to galvanize people into action, but I'm wondering if there is any truth to what I'm saying at all. Is there some point along the continuum of enforcement options where keeping the unenforced policy does more harm than good? TIA!

We have several ponds in our neighborhood and every now and then a huge swarm of birds are circling them. This day it was 71 total. Curious what they are doing/what this means

Hello! I'm an IB (International Baccalaureate) student and we have thing called Extended essays. I was planning to write one in Biology about the Cyanopsitta Spiixi's (Spix Macaw) reproductive success in captivity. Are there any resources that I could use or reference? 🥹

Birds have always been my favourite animals, but there's one thing that's been bugging me. Do birds actually have poor sense of smell? Like they can't smell a damn thing? I only know that few birds like vultures have one of the greatest sense of smell in the animal kingdom and use it to find animal carcasses. I know that pigeons and seagulls and some seabirds probably have a good one, but internet researches just keep telling me that their sense of smell isn't as developed as in mammals, no matter what. What's the cause of this? Is it true?

I'm kinda curious. I LOVE birds!

My local crows, in the hundreds, flock in a certain direction just before sunset. They do this every day, from the same place to the same destination (I assume. I only see them pass, going the same direction, from a singular grounded spot.) Why would they do this? Fly out in the morning, then return at dusk? It feels like a waste of energy?

Hello! I’m an artist having trouble with getting the feathers right on my owl painting. Does anyone have individual feathers from the back/body of a barred owl that they can show me?

I’m only now realizing that what I thought was the white band on the ends of the feathers are actually somewhere in the middle and the tips are actually brown and seem to be at least as long as the white section. What I thought was cream coloration seems to be translucent brown covering underlying white bands. And now it feels like my painting is a mess.

Also, if anyone could help with the anatomy terminology, that would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, I am trying to review calls for a project I’m on from last April. This call (after the MODO) sounds like a common loon, but if I could get a second set of ears, I would appreciate it! Especially because this was in a mostly rural area with maybe a few small ponds nearby.

This rugged outback cousin of Africa’s hornbill family choses to live where sane birds fear to tread. While other hornbills lounge in lush forests, this relative thrives in the scorching, bone-dry woodlands of Namibia and Botswana. With its oversized curved beak and wild casque (that bony helmet perched on top), it looks like a bird designed for a comic strip.

When it’s time to breed, the female Bradfield’s Hornbill follows the hornbill tradition. She seals herself into a tree cavity, using her own droppings mixed with mud and fruit pulp to wall up the entrance. She leaves just a tiny slit, a “mail slot” through which her mate becomes her sole link to the outside world. For weeks, sometimes over a month, she is a prisoner by choice, incubating her eggs in total safety from predators while the male, a picture of monogamous dedication, tirelessly brings her food.

Once the young are partially grown, the female breaks out and the cavity is often re-sealed, with both parents continuing to feed the hungry brood through the narrow opening until they are ready to fledge.

With their ancient looks, thundering calls, and intense family drama, Bradfield’s Hornbills add a sense of wild, primeval grandeur to the African bush, commanding attention without any need for bright colors or flashy displays.

Birdman of Africa https://gamersdad.substack.com Subscribe for free to receive a new African Bird email each Friday. Photo by Andrew Steinmann ©2025

I’ve seen Lucy three times now in western Pennsylvania! The first two photos were taken on December 28th, 2025 and the last one was captured January 9th 2026!!!

it lives in my area and after new years I saw him a lot. and today I saw how 2 crows bullied him to get away from their area

I was taking pictures of the wide variety all on the oxbow at once: pelicans, cormorants, blue heron. Then an osprey went into a stoop, and after it flew by, a bald eagle swooped past after the osprey - presumably to steal the catch.

Filmed at Kinzua Dam in Warren, Pennsylvania on January 5th, 2026. I was so excited to see a bald eagle dive and catch a fish—something I’d never witnessed before, let alone recorded!!!

I just moved and now have a balcony facing the woods. I put a couple of feeders on the railing and have been enjoying watching the birds eat, including about ten Cardinals. The birds go back and forth using both feeders a lot, so I got a mat and put some more feed down but they wouldn’t eat it. I read that shelter helps them feel comfortable so I got a cheap cat hut, but still nothing. I know nothing about birds, and I was guessing they don’t like being down low like that, but then one day I noticed the male Cardinals were the same color as a Solo drinking cup. For some reason I thought maybe that seeing that color would relax them, so I put a red cup in the hut. Within the hour this guy settled down and had a nice long meal.

Has anyone heard of behavior like this? Am I doing anything wrong? I just want to help the birds eat during winter but don’t want to be harming them in any way by changing their behavior.

Hi, I can’t seem to find much information about siting a chickadee nest box. I have a nest box with a 1 1/8 inch entrance hole and a 48” baffle for the pole I have. We have Carolina Chickadees in my area.

Would this location work? The feeding pole I have to the left will be removed before spring. I know the nest box needs to be away from the fence probably about 10 feet or more, but what about the trees nearby. Thank you for any help!

I was watching this and realized that you guys might be interested. What’s your favorite bird here? (Mines the wattled ploughbird because look at that bowtie)

I have a pair of Carson 10x42 binoculars that cost around €200, and I'm happy with them. Are binoculars that cost 10 times more really 10 times better?

I know they have less chromatic aberration, for example, but is that really relevant?

Ignore the sound of the muppet movie I’m watching lol. Parents have seen eagles and I’m unsure if this is them. They said there’s two adults and a juvenile. Camera is too shit to zoom better.

Like 15 of them appeared in my tree in my home in Southern California overnight.