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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Kid told to go and chase the birds

326 replies

GOODCAT · 04/07/2021 13:35

I don't have kids, but was at the coast this morning when I overheard an adult, presume mum, tell a young girl to go and chase the birds, said in a way that meant she was to go and entertain herself by doing this.

My own parents would have told me off for this and to be kind to other living creatures.

It always annoys me when I see kids chasing birds and their parents saying nothing, but to actively encourage a kid to do so is a first.

AIBU to find it sad that this kid was being encouraged to chase birds for no other purpose than her own entertainment.

OP posts:
Onehotmess · 04/07/2021 19:00

@CherryPlumCrow 😂 I was talking about my dog . Sorry the reply function didn’t work so it’s not obvious. Just imagining teaching my dog to admire a pigeon 😂

Mipapapequenaa · 04/07/2021 19:10

@RainingZen

Unless pigeons or magpies. Which eat all the bird food and/or kill baby birds. Special place in hell reserved for magpies.
Special place in hell reserved for humans as well, to be honest. We regularly murder other living creatures for our own benefit so we aren't dissimilar to other creatures that we seem to see as cruel 🤷‍♀️

Yes, OP, it's sad that this kid was being encouraged to scare other animals. 😔

Hoppinggreen · 04/07/2021 19:12

Magpies don’t do it for entertainment

ErrolTheDragon · 04/07/2021 19:15

Unless pigeons or magpies. Which eat all the bird food and/or kill baby birds. Special place in hell reserved for magpies.
Special place in hell reserved for humans as well, to be honest. We regularly murder other living creatures for our own benefit so we aren't dissimilar to other creatures that we seem to see as cruel

No, there's a massive difference. The magpie is amoral, it has no sense of right and wrong. They aren't being cruel, they're doing what they need to live, and to feed their own young.
Humans do - or should - have a sense of what's right and wrong. Being gratuitously cruel to animals - distressing them for fun - is immoral.

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 04/07/2021 20:17

@CherryPlumCrow

He's adamant he wants to be a Pigeon when he grows up

Cute 😍

It is very cute! He's promised not to poo on mine or our next door neighbours cars Grin
ChampionOfTheSun · 04/07/2021 21:37

Yanbu, I've got a 1.5yro and I'm teaching her to be kind to animals and wildlife. She knows no difference between "pests" and "not pests" so she's just good to them all. She knows not to chase or get too close or be loud around them, she just likes to feed the ducks or watch the gulls quietly. I'd remove her from the situation if she couldn't regulate herself as it's not fair to terrify living creatures for amusement.

BastardMonkfish · 04/07/2021 22:55

@ErrolTheDragon

Unless pigeons or magpies. Which eat all the bird food and/or kill baby birds. Special place in hell reserved for magpies. Special place in hell reserved for humans as well, to be honest. We regularly murder other living creatures for our own benefit so we aren't dissimilar to other creatures that we seem to see as cruel

No, there's a massive difference. The magpie is amoral, it has no sense of right and wrong. They aren't being cruel, they're doing what they need to live, and to feed their own young.
Humans do - or should - have a sense of what's right and wrong. Being gratuitously cruel to animals - distressing them for fun - is immoral.

Come on, Magpies are total bastards. I throw food for the birds onto the roof of my shed and watched a magpie stand on top of and guard the food and chase away any other birds from getting any and he didn't even want any himself.

I mean I like them because they're clever and full of personality. But they do bully other birds.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 04/07/2021 23:00

if you are worried about revenge I'll have you know that Hitchcock's Birds is not a documentary.

ease up

Branleuse · 04/07/2021 23:06

Magpies are probably more intelligent than the toddler chasing them. They definitely work things out and entertain themselves. I do quite like them though

Icannever · 04/07/2021 23:13

@Peaplant20. I’m not sure you’ve experienced a seagull recently if you think they respond to gentle shooing. I Think they’ve got hungrier in lockdown as we were chased down the street by one which stole a kids ice cream, I had to throw mine away and run and it still came after us. Seagulls are not going to flinch never mind leave the area with a gentle shooing.

TeddyBeans · 04/07/2021 23:15

On our way to swimming once, while we were walking through a park, there were 2 magpies and 2 crows going at each other. The closer we got, the more I realised, the crows were attacking a baby magpie on the ground. DS stood and watched as I chased the crows away to give the baby magpie a chance to hop off to safety somewhere...

A week or two later, an entire flock of pigeons were in the same park. DS ran off towards them and they hopped out of his way, far more interested in the food they were obviously getting. He wasn't terrorising them, none of them died from the shock of a toddler being nearby, they just moved around him and carried on with their day and we carried on to the swimming pool

ErrolTheDragon · 04/07/2021 23:19

I mean I like them because they're clever and full of personality. But they do bully other birds.

They tease cats too, so tbh respect!

Corvids are definitely intelligent, but do they have a sense of right and wrong?

Bitofachinwag · 04/07/2021 23:20

@Onehotmess

My dog chases birds, should I tell her to stop? I wouldn’t encourage it but I wouldn’t get involved in someone else’s child chasing birds. I think you probably just need to get over it
Yes of course you should!
frigglerock · 04/07/2021 23:29

I wouldn't actively encourage it, but a child running towards healthy birds on the beach seems harmless to me.

I'd think it was a strange thing to tell a child to do, though, and would prefer to suggest building sandcastles, collecting pebbles or shells, or splashing in shallow water.

womaninatightspot · 04/07/2021 23:31

We have fairly sneaky crows/ magpies/ seagulls that hang out at the local park thieving food. If we have a picnic one child is on guard duty to chase the feckers away. Otherwise they will just swoop in and steal. It's right next to a playground and it's well known that if you put your snack down it'll be stolen by birds.

Ariela · 04/07/2021 23:34

Pigeons, seagulls or magpies: fair game. Especially if you're getting food out.

BastardMonkfish · 04/07/2021 23:41

@ErrolTheDragon

I mean I like them because they're clever and full of personality. But they do bully other birds.

They tease cats too, so tbh respect!

Corvids are definitely intelligent, but do they have a sense of right and wrong?

Well who knows but I certainly wouldn't like to underestimate them Grin

Sparrowsong · 05/07/2021 00:26

If I see a kid doing this I will tell it off, sod your or its feelings, shame on any parent that thinks this is ok.

ShitPoetryClub · 05/07/2021 00:30

I don't think your average Herring/common/black backed gull is going to be remotely bothered by a child chasing it.
The problem is that there are a lot more than gulls at the "coast" including rare ground nesting birds.
So chaser child could well be running around and destroying a breeding colony.

rosalie11 · 05/07/2021 00:39

Mum is a silly woman. My dog doesn’t even chase birds

CustardyCreams · 05/07/2021 02:22

It is not a myth about magpies predating songbirds.

Quoting from a BBC Earth article: “ ecologist Tim Birkhead at the University of Sheffield in the UK studied magpies in the Rivelin Valley near Sheffield over a ten-year period, and is the author of The Magpies… Is there any truth that magpies savage other birds? "There is absolutely no doubt they eat songbird eggs and chicks," says Birkhead.
The magpie is a persistent, noisy and conspicuous predator, he says. So if you've been watching the happy courtship of a pair of blackbirds in your garden, you will be understandably upset when a magpie flays their chicks on your lawn.”

Would it be antisocial to chase away rats?

Magpies are a vicious pest.

catsoop · 05/07/2021 02:29

@SmidgenofaPigeon

No creature is ‘fair game’ to be harassed by children no matter your personal feelings on them. Any twat parent that teaches their kids otherwise is breeding little pricks.
totally!
XenoBitch · 05/07/2021 02:34

Yep, it bugs me to see a flock of birds just minding their own business.. then see some some little kid go shoo them all away.

FlyingBattie · 05/07/2021 02:51

Cruel. I don't know why so many people have said YABU.
I absolutely hate seeing kids chasing birds.

Peaplant20 · 05/07/2021 04:19

@Icannever when I said seagull I was actually thinking of pigeons in my head 😂 going to blame baby brain on that one. Either way, still no excuse to chase any of them for fun which is what the original post was about, your situation was a little different.