Why are there always so many wild birds everywhere but you hardly ever see any other type of wild animal? 19 times out of 20 if I go outside and see a wild animal its a bird.
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Sometimes I see snakes.
I saw a California ground squirrel today. Guess that means hibernation is over. Usually they're pretty rare because the invasive eastern squirrels have run them out of town.
think about it doofus, they can FLY. Animals need to run away right? They gotta stay next to cover. Except birds. They just go up and nothing except another bird can touch them. Seriously, it's obvious if you think for 2 seconds, Black person. Stop outsourcing thought to anonymous people on the internet.
Birds are by far the most common terrestrial vertebrates on the planet by number.
fishes outnumber birds, but OP probably isn't going to step outside and see fishes.
Insects also outnumber birds, but OP probably doesn't think of insects as animals.
so that just leaves birds. Once we knock out fishes and insects, almost everything that's left is a bird.
zooplankton outnumber fishes and insects, but if OP doesn't see fishes and doesn't count insects, he's not going to see or count zooplankton.
so birds it is.
so what OP is really asking is
>when I go outside and look for nondomesticated terrestrial vertebrates, why are they birds 19 times out of 20?
and the very simple answer is that ~19 out of 20 terrestrial vertebrates are in fact birds
the remaining ~1/20th are mostly rodents which OP is unlikely to notice.
>but OP probably doesn't think of insects as animals
It's hard to when you don't get a clear look at them and something just buzzes by fast. And even if you do get a good look at it most people couldn't ID it since anything beyond bee, fly, or ladybug is a mystery.
>most common terrestrial vertebrates
>fishes outnumber birds,
>Insects also outnumber birds,
Squirrels don't count though since they're not really wild.
Yeah I wonder the same. I always see squirrels but I have never seen an otter or a beaver.
I've seen otters a couple times, but ironically they were up in the mountains of Washington. Never seen a beaver either. I really want to.
Or the European Pine Marten. I've never seen one in my life despite having spent quite some time hiking in the summer.
America has its marten so you can actually probably see that
I see rabbits and squirrels.
I saw a mouse once (but only once). I wish I could see one again.
I see multiple squirrels and feral cats every time I walk outside
>feral cats
thats why you dont see anything else
crazy isn't it? even 100 years ago seeing wildlife was more commonplace. Man terraforming their habitat has really fricked native fauna hard and yet people STILL want to be nimby fricks.
In the 1800s songbirds were so dense in some areas it was just a cacophony. But all thats gone now thanks to man mass hunting and consuming resources with no attempt to conserve. Soon there will be nothing except bugs.
It's true. I either see a bird or a squirrel. That's it. Assuming bugs don't count of course.
Bugs do count but they are hard to see because they're small. Where do you live that you're seeing squirrels Anon?
Oregon. These fox squirrels have invaded and taken over everything.
Squirrels run the world chuddie
What are you talking about
I see Inside-out Deer all the time, along the road
Other types of animal are in the environment too, you just don't see them because they're hiding. Birds don't have to hide so much because they can just fly away from danger. Some birds do hide and so you very rarely see them, like bitterns or corncrakes.
Being able to fly is a pretty big advantage, thus, they are naturally everywhere
Because they are better at living alongside humans. I also often see hares and occassionally deer and squirrels but in much smaller numbers than birds.
Why are birds good at living with humans? We have very little in common
buildings. they nest in them and take cover from rain/sun.
Because no other animals are passing through where you live due to traveling extremely long distances their entire lives
Because they’re skittish and I see foxes, coyotes, skunks, and possums all the time.
This. Also voles. Fricking voles. Fricking hate voles.
I kept a pet vole for 7 months and he was lovely.
Because 19 out of 20 times a different kind of wild animal shows up around humans, it is killed.
Given the fact you post a picture of common wood pigeons I'm guessing you live in Western Europe, like me. A lot of habitats have been destroyed and a lot of animals have been hunted to near extinction because it would increase farmer revenue by 0.02%.
Birds can just fly wherever, from the isolated forests that are left to the city to get food or to the tree in your yard to build a nest or eat from your feeder. Any other animal like mammals and reptiles have to move over land, and this being Western Europe means that they have to cross a lot of roads in which they, like says, are very likely getting hit and killed sometime.
A lot of the larger roads out here even have a small wall built in between the lanes so cars can crash into the wall instead of incoming traffic, but this also means that anything smaller than a fox can't cross it, they will get halfway, get confused and then get killed.
Try going out to forests, meadows, swampland, rivers, anywhere away from roads, and especially at sunrise or sunset you'll get to see a lot more cool animals (and also a lot more cool birds).
Also take into account there are just a lot more bird species in Western Europe than there are other vertebrates, and a lot of the others are mice species. I see martens, rats, squirrels and roe deer, and if I get really lucky a fox or a beaver.