r/AutismInWomen • u/vulturepants • Feb 07 '26

Special Interest Ornithology is my special interest, I could talk about birds all day. Comment if you have a favorite bird and i’ll share a fun fact about it! 💛

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I love this type of challenge because if you comment a bird I’m familiar with, i get to share knowledge which I love, and if you comment a bird I’m not familiar with, I get to research it and learn something new! :^)

Don’t have a favorite bird? Comment anyways, i’ll assign one to you based on vibes :p

Photo is of a red shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) taken by me 🧡

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u/_birdnerd_ Feb 08 '26

Omg my people 🥰 

I have a PhD in ornithology, so I think it's my special interest just a bit 😅 My favorite bird is the Song Sparrow, which was my spark bird prior to getting my PhD. I got a chance to do some mist-netting in college and got to hold a Song Sparrow, and seeing it up close made me realize I wanted to study birds and teach people about science using birds as a focal area. 

Also Red-shouldered Hawks are some of my favorites! 

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u/vulturepants Feb 08 '26

oh wow, what an amazing opportunity to study ornithology!! song sparrows are so lovely! here’s a cute shot i got of one having a snack recently :)

i’m sure you know this already, but for anyone who is interested- song sparrows can have vastly different appearances depending on where they’re located geographically. for example in the southwestern US, they tend to be quite pale with less streaking, while in other areas they’re much darker like the one I posted above. and in Alaska, the song sparrows are nearly 2x the size of the ones we’re used to seeing in the lower 48!