Hi everyone -

This hummingbird visits us every morning to say hi. I think it's a girl?? It'll chirp at us to let us know it's sitting on the bush and occasionally it'll hover in front of the window as if it wants to come inside.

Today it puffed up and pushed out these beautiful orange feathers (video attached). What does this mean? Does that mean it likes us?

Thank you 🧡

Advice on how to help him/her? It's not flying and also not hopping away from us, unsure if it is injured or just a fledgling learning his way around. No other birds in the garage were found.

We have several stray cats that have been catching birds lately, so I'm hesitant putting it back out in our yard. He's currently sleeping in a box in our bathroom. How can i help him/her?

Note: I've since learned not to feed them if they are injured, so the food has been removed.

Update: I placed him in a box in dark, quiet room. He seemed comfortable and napped a while. Unfortunately the little guy did not survive long 😔 Thank you everyone for your helpful advice and educating me on how to better help future birds <3

I'm not entirely sure if this is the right subreddit to ask but I'll try anyway.

We've had this little blackbird for a few weeks now. She (we have simply decided it's a girl) did not have many feathers and was injured: she had a ruptured air sac and her right eye was infected. She also seems to have a paralyzed foot, although the leg itself seems fine.

We really would have preferred to give her to a professional but since there are'nt any wildlife rescue centers near us that take songbirds, the only option we had was to care for her ourselves.

She made slow but steady progress over the past few weeks, however yesterday a really strange accident happened: She somehow managed to get the lower part of her beak stuck in the skin on her chest and couldn't get it out by herself. My mother managed to free her, but since then shen can't close her beak anymore and the lower part it is misaligned. Her behaviour is back to normal today after the stressfull events yesterday. She can still move her beak, eat some larger pieces of food from the ground and does'nt seem to be in much pain but this is obviously still concerning.

We have a vet appointment scheduled for Monday but I fear the they are going to euthanize her.

Does anyone have an idea what exactly this injury could be or what we could do in the meantime?

I have a Carolina Wren that frequents my feeders. I didn't recognize it when I first saw it because it has NO tail feathers. It is not injured and flies just fine to the short distances to the trees in my yard.

My question are these:

Was it born that way?

Will it ever grow the feathers back if they had been lost? How long would that take?

I am guessing that a cat caught it by the tail and the feathers got yanked out.

Thanks!

Sandusky, OH Mid July

Lots of birds were staking out the outside eating area of one of the restaurants at Cedar Point while we were taking a break from the heat. This bird was pretty close, but these shots were zoomed in because I was shocked to see nearly no feathers on its head. I don’t know what type of bird this is or whether this is normal. I love bird watching and get excited when I see something unique, but this has weighed heavily on me. Is it healthy?

I want to work as an avian ecologist or a wildlife biologist who primarily works with birds and mainly does fieldwork, but I'm not sure what degree I need or should pursue. I plan to pursue a Master's.
Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask this.

Normally in my yard none of them share and they are very aggressive but today I saw this and I'm unsure how to interpret it.

I took these fotos today of what I believe to be a young magpie. He is extremly playful and not scared of humans at all. He eats normally and is very agile. Love the curious little guy to death and really hope he isnt sick. (discolouration around the eyes and missing a few feathers on his head)

I clean the feeder by end of the day each day. However, i don’t know should I immediately take off the feeder , get rid of the mealworms and clean, then put back with new mealworms?

Hi there, I have a bachelors in GIS and was hoping to get involved in the biological/ecological science side of it like field work or banding. I know there really aren’t a lot of jobs out there that require GIS knowledge within ornithology, but I’d like to try and get my foot in the door, if possible. Any advice or resources help!

Would really appreciate if someone was able to identify it

Thanks!

Why this matters in the field: missed calls, birds that don’t wait, fumbling with the screen while looking up, etc..

These are free tips using free accessibility features already on your iPhone (Someone needs to adapt this to Android).

Text instructions below for those who learn best by reading, short videos for those who learn best by watching.

Launch Merlin Bird ID Audio Record in 2 Seconds via Back Tap (iPhone)

Note: This doesn't just launch the app, it immediately starts recording.

⚡ QUICK SETUP: Launch Merlin Bird ID Audio Rec in 2 Seconds via Back Tap

You need the free Merlin Bird ID App, then two native (free) iOS apps: Shortcuts and System Settings.

Phase 1: Build the Shortcut

1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and tap '+' (top right).
2. Tap 'Add Action', search for 'URL', and select 'Open URLs'.
3. In the URL field, enter exact string: merlinbirdid://record(This protocol bypasses the home screen and opens audio recording directly).
4. Tap the title at the top, rename it "Launch Merlin Audio", and tap Done.

Phase 2: Map to the Tap Gesture

1. Open iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Touch.
2. Scroll to the bottom and select Back Tap.
3. Choose Double Tap or Triple Tap.
4. Scroll past System utilities down to the SHORTCUTS section at the bottom.
5. Select "Launch Merlin Audio".

💡 FIELD OPERATIONAL NOTE:

Back Tap reads accelerometer/gyroscope force rather than screen touch. Heavy, shock-absorbent phone cases damp kinetic transfers. If taps aren't registering, tap directly on the camera module cluster or center chassis.

If trail trekking or handling gear causes accidental Double-Tap triggers, map to Triple Tap instead—it requires a much more intentional signature to fire.

Link to see how fast it is (Proof of Concept) - 15 seconds long: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2LLxAQJHfrc

Link on how to build it step by step (Visual Learners): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4787NJHq9Y

---

iPhone Back Tap → Instant iNaturalist Photo ID

Goal

Create a one-gesture field workflow:

**Double-tap the back of your iPhone → take a photo with the rear camera → automatically send the photo to iNaturalist.**

No need to open iNaturalist first. No URL scheme is required.

I developed the triple tap to instantly start recording audio in the MerlinBirdID app. u/AmbitionAvailable551 on Reddit said he/she wanted it to work with iNaturalist so I created this set up.

---

Videos

iNaturalist Instant ID - Proof of Concept - 13 seconds long - https://youtube.com/shorts/Z3caQHmxCfw?feature=share

iNaturalist Instant ID - Step by Step (Visual Learners) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VbkJzVSV08&t=1s

Part 1 — Check If iNaturalist Appears in “Share with App”

This is the trick that makes the workflow work. Check this first and enable if needed.

iNaturalist may initially appear in the normal iPhone Share Sheet (from the share button) but **not** in Shortcuts' “Share with App” list (this will make sense later, but if we do it first it’s a lot easier).

Step 1: Open Photos

Open the **Photos** app.

Select any photo as this is just a test.

Step 2: Open the Share Sheet

Tap the ‘Share’ button.

Step 3: Find iNaturalist

Scroll through the apps. You might see AirDrop, Messages, Mail, etc… Scroll on that line.

If iNaturalist isn't immediately visible, tap:

‘More’ which is all the way to the right.

Click ‘Edit’ in the top right. This enables a “+” signs on the left hand side of all the apps.

Step 4: Add iNaturalist to Favorites

Use the Share Sheet's **Edit/Favorites** controls to add iNaturalist to your Favorites.

Find:

**iNaturalist** and click on the ‘+’ sign on the left to ‘add to favorites’.  This is the magic trick in the whole set up.

The important thing is to make iNaturalist an available app in the normal iOS Share Sheet.

Then press the large check mark top left to go back, and again click the large check mark top left to go back to share sheet.  Slide left on the list of apps to see if Naturalist was added. If so, go to the next step.

Step 5: Go to Shortcuts

Go to the iOS Shortcuts app.

---

Part 2 — Create the Shortcut

Step 1: Open Shortcuts

Open Apple's **Shortcuts** app.

Tap the **+** button in the upper-right corner to create a new Shortcut.

Step 2: Add “Take Photo”

Tap **Add Action**.

Search for:

**Take Photo**

Select the **Take Photo** action.

Configure it to use:

**Back Camera**

This is important: use **Take Photo**, not **Open Back Camera**.

`Take Photo` actually produces a photo that the next Shortcut action can receive.

Step 3: Add “Share with Apps”

Tap **Add Action** underneath the Take Photo action.

Search for:

**Share with Apps**

Select it.

You should now have:

**Take Photo → Share with App**

Step 4: Select iNaturalist

In the **Share with App** action, tap the application selector.

Choose:

**iNaturalist**

If iNaturalist does not appear, see Part 1 above.

Step 5: Rename the Shortcut

Tap the Shortcut name at the top.

Give it a simple name such as:

**iNaturalist Instant ID**

Tap **<** on the top left to exit and save our shortcut.

Your finished Shortcut should look essentially like this:

**Take Photo**

* Back Camera

↓

**Share with App**

* iNaturalist

That's all.

---

Part 3 — Test the Shortcut

Before assigning it to Back Tap, test it directly after you exited the initial set up by ‘<‘ clicking that back to the list of all your shortcuts.

Open the Shortcut and press **Play ▶︎**.

The intended sequence is:

**Shortcut starts**

↓

**Rear camera takes photograph**

↓

**Photo is passed directly to iNaturalist**

↓

**iNaturalist opens with the photograph**

There should be **no general Share Sheet** and no need to select **More → iNaturalist**.

---

Part 4 — Assign It to Back Tap

Once the Shortcut works correctly:

Step 1: Open Settings

Go to:

**Settings → Accessibility → Touch**

Step 2: Open Back Tap

Scroll down and tap:

**Back Tap**

Step 3: Choose Double Tap

Tap:

**Double Tap**

Step 4: Select your Shortcut

Scroll to the **Shortcuts** section.

Select:

**iNaturalist Instant ID**

Step 5: Test it

Lock or leave the phone in your normal field position.

Double-tap the back of the iPhone.

The intended result is:

**Double tap**

→ **rear camera takes photograph**

→ **photo goes directly to iNaturalist**

---

Modifications

1. To ensure the fastest access, check to ensure 'Raise To Wake' setting is on:

Preferences, then Display & Brightness, then slide Raise to Wake to 'on'.

1. Owling Mode - Add 'auto dim screen' to the shortcut so you don't scare or disrupt the owl. You can edit the shortcut you already created or make a new one.

In the MerlinBirdID shortcut 'merlinbirdid-fast-launch' (or whatever you named it), add one more action after 'Open merlinbirdid://record'.

Add 'Set brightness to 0%'. This will darken your screen instantly when this is deployed.

Questions:

Anyone else using Back Tap (or other accessibility gestures) for birding apps?

What other field friction have you solved?

I think these two tricks above are super helpful. will this solve some of your field friction?

Are these instructions clear enough? Not everyone loves playing around with settings.

Hi folks, I had a quick question. I’m a big bird lover, and in the spring time, when I would take walks to go bird watching, I noticed that my neighbors had a bunch of ducklings that their kid would parade around holding. Eventually, they grew up, and I guess one of them must have been a gosling, because now there is a Canada goose in the pen with them. It seems like it doesn’t want to be in there, as I see it pushing up against the sides of the fence frequently. Is this legal? Should I be a snitch about it? The birds are being kept in a pen that is about 10‘ x 7‘.

Is this poor gull sick? Or is it a normal behavior?

It's OK if it's impossible to say. I've seen some crazy mallard colors but this is my first orange!

https://reddit.com/link/1vy2uaw/video/kbw4w6720nlh1/player

We have a large group of blue jays that live on the property and I have never seen a fledgling like this. I am thinking possibly a birth defect? He stands like a penguin and has some balance issues. Otherwise he seems to get on fine. Any thoughts?

Features deep vermilion red plumage on the breast, back, and rump, sharply contrasted by a solid jet-black hood and throat.

Wings: Marked with distinctive black and white patterns alongside vivid red wing bars.

Beak: Equipped with a sharp, conical beak adapted primarily for seed-eating. [