sparrow down

[trevj]

Starlings can look quite different depending on the time of year.

Yep. The first picture of a Starling above, is a juvenile. The brown colouring is the tell.

The adults look more like the second picture. Dark, with the dotted tips on their feathers.

Here's some trivia for ya. European Starlings came to North America, by way of New York. A group of folks that liked Shakespeare, saw fit to import several of each of the birds mentioned in the Bard's plays, and released them in Central Park, so the story goes.

They have done well, since.

If you know anyone that ties flies, the starling feathers are used to make eyes on some salmon flies.

See http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/lower-mainland/wildlife/species/species_lists.htm

House sparrows get less protection in law than gophers do. Vermin.

Good shot!

Cheers
Trev

 

[Gatehouse]

Legal game animal, a phucking bird, you are mental. I am a trapper, I kill critters every day. Today I killed 5 yotes and 1 fox, but guess what, I also filled the bird feeder. If for a half a second you think you are some kind of a hero, you need help.

Helpless little foxes and coyotes, lured in by your attractants and murdered by a mechanical device. The horror....

 

[Gunslingr]

I knew this thread was gunna head south the second I saw the title and after 5 pages I can see I was right.

Nice shot with a bow, a lot better than I could have done.

Cheers

 

[FLHTCUI]

Legal game animal, a phucking bird, you are mental. I am a trapper, I kill critters every day. Today I killed 5 yotes and 1 fox, but guess what, I also filled the bird feeder. If for a half a second you think you are some kind of a hero, you need help.

Oh yeah, well I can pee further than you can, so there !
If it where a sparrow it is legal to shoot them, if it where a starling then it was legal to kill it as well, now if it where saw a wren or someother songbird, well then I would suggest it was not legal to have shot it.
As for to shoot/kill any of the class c vermin in BC according to the hunting regs, this critter best not have been shot within city limits, otherwise the local CO's may try and hang the dis-charge of single projectile upon you, thus opening the door for further fishing on their part and maybe try to hang the poaching of several blacktail deer upon said shooter.
Tight Groups and full sprung traps.
Now back to our regularly scheduled
Rob

songbirds are protected through international treaties and therefore are a big bad thing, so if you wish to suffer the wrath of the Cnd. Wildlife Services fillyer boots.

 

[DVXDUDE]

LOL, hilarious thread.


a guy could post a pic with 300 groundhogs he killed that day and everyone would be giving congrats and high-fives.


but post a pic of a legal bird that he shot with a bow and the guy gets #### on. GOD FORBID he killed a songbird!!!!!!!

 

[wheelin_ca]

my first kills were sparrows and starlings.. shooting my pellet gun from my garage...

the worst is grackles.... and its almost time for them to come back.


i think you western guys have Magpies as your devil birds lol

just thinking about them makes me want to take out the pellet gun

 

[1481davidc]

Great post, made for better reading than the morning paper! Go kill a few hundred more, lots to go around!

 

[jjohnwm]

better hope no one copied the pic and reported you, not the sharpest knife in the drawer

...says the spoon.

Qhergt, awesome shot. But don't try to defend it by calling the bird a legal game animal...it isn't even that! It is a non-native, introduced pest species, no closed season, no limit, no restrictions on shooting it. Whack'em all...you do the native species a favour every time you snuff one of the exotics.

I knew where this thread was going...but I sure didn't expect it would get there so fast. Right from the first response: "Did you eat it?"

Cripes, with friends like these...

 

[none]

...says the spoon.

"Did you eat it?"

Cripes, with friends like these...

Why not? They do in italy.You just need to shoot more of them.

 

[jjohnwm]

my first kills were sparrows and starlings.. shooting my pellet gun from my garage...

the worst is grackles.... and its almost time for them to come back.


i think you western guys have Magpies as your devil birds lol

just thinking about them makes me want to take out the pellet gun

The best ones are the cowbirds. A handful of seed on the ground, and when you whack the first female cowbird, the carcass acts as a decoy for the males.

Before any of you ladies have a PMS attack, read up on cowbirds.

 

[none]

Greek recipes:

Salted Sparrow (What they did in the olden days to preserve them for winter treats)

To preserve them, you alternate layers of salt and sparrow (whole, but cleaned) in a preserving jar. When you want to eat them, you simply wash the salt off and fry them up in a little olive oil. This is best served with ouzo as a finger food.

Sparrow Pilaf in a Light Tomato Sauce

Boil the (cleaned) sparrows for about 20 minutes or until tender. In a separate saucepan sauté onions in oil. Add fresh tomatoes and just before it is ready, add fresh basil. Add the (drained) sparrows.

This is best served on rice that has been cooked in the sparrow water.

An Arab recipe:

How to make fried sparrows

Recipe ingredients

* 8 sparrows, cleaned or any game birds
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon pomegranate thickened juice
* 1 tablespoon butter
* A dash of white pepper

* Fry sparrows in butter over medium heat till golden brown on all sides.
* Season and cook over low heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
* Add lemon juice and pomegranate juice and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
* Serve hot with fried mushrooms and potatoes.

 

[jjohnwm]

Why not? They do in italy.You just need to shoot more of them.

They also apparently eat rats in India, but I think I'll pass next time I shoot one in the barn.

But I wasn't making fun of the idea of eating it. I was just laughing at the fact that the very first response was from someone apparently wagging the finger of shame at the OP.

 

[CBMS]

Holy Smackerals, Those actually sound pretty good!

Greek recipes:

Sparrow Pilaf in a Light Tomato Sauce

Boil the (cleaned) sparrows for about 20 minutes or until tender. In a separate saucepan sauté onions in oil. Add fresh tomatoes and just before it is ready, add fresh basil. Add the (drained) sparrows.

This is best served on rice that has been cooked in the sparrow water.

An Arab recipe:

How to make fried sparrows

Recipe ingredients

* 8 sparrows, cleaned or any game birds
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon pomegranate thickened juice
* 1 tablespoon butter
* A dash of white pepper

* Fry sparrows in butter over medium heat till golden brown on all sides.
* Season and cook over low heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
* Add lemon juice and pomegranate juice and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
* Serve hot with fried mushrooms and potatoes.

 

[Qhergt]

hahaha omg what a thing to wake up to and read this thread... (and seeing our friends name in pink)

 

[chalkriver]

I have to admit before reading this thread I would have not been impressed with your shooting a sparrow .....but that would have been due to my ignorance of that they are a comman pest....as I have got rid of countless gophers in all kinds of ways and thought I was doing the land owner a service .

So I say keep shooting them..its got to be good practice for deer season just dont try to get them on the fly or your neighbors might disapprove...lol

 

[Qhergt]

So I say keep shooting them..its got to be good practice for deer season just dont try to get them on the fly or your neighbors might disapprove...lol

lol true, also Id disapprove as id likely loose a good arrow

 

[trevj]

Starlings are pretty much BC's answer to Gophers in the prairies.

I'm actually looking forward to having a chance to whack a few of them. Prime airgun and rimfire targets.

I see that our genteel trapper is no longer with us. Oh well. Too bad actually. He probably had a few things that would have been good info. Bummer that he couldn't get past that his personal limits as far as target species were not the same as those of others, including the BC Government's.

Lots of things used to be on the menu, that are not any more, at least around here. Larks were a pretty common foodstuff. Seen lots of recipes for them, dating from Roman times up to fairly modern days. And there was always the option of "Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie".

About the only thing I have to suggest to someone that targets sparrows, is to get sorted out on ID'ing a house Sparrow from any of the others that may be around. No point in whacking a native species songbird by mistake.

Cheers
Trev

 

['Boo]

first kill of the year with my compound bow.


20 foot shot

First off this bird is not a starling as you originally posted.
Unfortunately neither is it a House Sparrow - also known as the English Sparrow - (Passer domesticus) as listed in Schedule C as an invasive pest that may be killed at will.

It appears to be a Brewers Sparrow which, like most songbirds, is protected in BC

I suspect you may be getting a visit from a CO in the near future.

 

[hakx]

Somebody here mentioned Grackles? Rats of the sky. I don't know what you have there. Might be an invasive pest, or evidence.

Birds with a bow ain't easy, and you weren't using a judo point or any other type bird head. If you get a chance, try your bow with grouse or other upland gamebird, it ranks really high on things to do when the deer aren't moving.

 

[dudu]

Oops, time to take that picture down, again!
Actually it is not much of a picture fit for this fine forum. Considering, its tongue should be sticking out, you should be laying beside it, 10' behind, with a Bud light in your left hand. EEEEEEhhhahaaaaa.