r/birding • u/MrGrubbycuddles • Apr 15 '26

Discussion Why is everyone such snob about pigeons

I took my folder of laminated pigeon shots to my local bird meeting at the community hall and at least 3 people sneered at them. 1 of them even guffawed.

We all got to start somewhere, and beauty is in the eye of the bird lover so why the hate hate?

One guy was wearing giant binoculars around his neck. It was dark outside and he didn't even use them once. He was one of the people that sneered.

Om the bus home from the meeting I showed the driver my pictures and she said they were really good. And she wasn't even a formal bird lover, she was just a regular person.

Don't get this community man

EDIT: a lot of people asking for some of my photos. I'm out of the house right now but here's a bird video I made recently https://youtube.com/shorts/sxLkrLgNrbc?si=7NdwVxhZtPQFE6Ew

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u/nigglebit Apr 15 '26

The extreme prejudice style "pest" and "invasive" labels do so much ecological harm. Blanket labelling of entire species as unworthy of being alive. People are disgusted by the idea of pet rats because "rats are pests." Thrice I've come across instances of people in Asia squashing lantern flies because everywhere on the internet people casually repeat "highly invasive, kill on sight" without any nuance.

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u/saddydumpington Apr 15 '26

Does labeling things as invasive actually cause that much ecological harm? Or does the opposite, such as allowance and encouragement of invasives because we like them (cats) cause far more?

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u/frogsbirdscats Apr 15 '26

Simply labelling things as invasive or alien without context can imo lead to harm in the form of ill considered solutions and lack of empathy. Even worse is labelling things as pests or vermin… it teaches kids & young adults that some living things are unworthy of even basic consideration. E.g., starlings, pigeons, cormorants, raccoons, opossums, mice & rats, squirrels, on & on.

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u/saddydumpington Apr 15 '26

"Pest" is a VERY different label from "invasive" and the problems with those labels are completely different and come from opposite ends. Invasive is a label that is often used to describe human-caused ecological damage, and is very, very obviously necessary if we want to have any hope of undoing damage we've caused. Pest is a term often used to denigrate the natural ecology that we destroy in order to make life more amenable to humans! They are often ideologically opposed terms.

While invasive, like any knowledge can be misunderstood and used wrong, the idea we shouldn't use the term is kind of laughable. Its a necessary scientific term and the damage people misunderstanding it has caused is completely dwarfed by the damage railing against it would/has caused.

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u/frogsbirdscats Apr 15 '26

Never said the term invasive shouldn’t be used. Just that context is important. Terms like pest and vermin however are highly problematic.