1st grackle down

[Brent]

Starlings are unprotected in any state I have ever lived in. Sparrows include a large number of species. Almost all of which are protected.

The one that is not protected in most, if not all places, is the English Sparrow - which, of course, is not really a sparrow at all, but a weaver finch.

If you can't tell one sparrow from another, then you are probably shooting at protected species.

Brent

 

[luieb45]

I meant the english sparrow. I just couldn't remember what the name of it was.

 

[jethro224]

I believe in Illinois that starlings and sparrow are considered a nuisance species and have no game laws regarding them, right?

pg 6 in the IL reg book;

"All wild birds (EXCEPT the house sparrow, European starling and domestic pigeon) and parts thereof (their nests and eggs) are protected."

Anything else that doesn't have a season, don't shoot it.
Brent is absolutely right, there are a BUNCH of kinds of sparrows. Some are really close to looking just the same too. Either learn to tell them apart or leave them alone. The tickets are expensive.

 

[rtdoug]

The neighbor next door, when I was growing up, used to buy my brother and I 20 ga. shells to rid the "pest" species of birds from his cherry orchard.

Those were the days...

 

[longcruise]

"All wild birds (EXCEPT the house sparrow, European starling and domestic pigeon) and parts thereof (their nests and eggs) are protected."

That's pretty much the same list as Colorado. We also now have the Eurasian Collared Dove on the list. While it is carried as a game bird in our small game regs, the season is open 12 months of the year with no bag limit. Do you have any of those Eurasian doves in IL?

Also, note that House Sparrow and English Sparrow are the same bird. Here's what they look like;

first is the female.

and here is the male.

Here's a couple pics of Eurasian Collared Doves. They are just a little smaller than a common pigeon and larger than a mourning dove.

 

[jethro224]

We are getting more and more collared doves here and less mourning doves. The DNR just lumps them in with regular dove season but I think they should classify them as a pest and open 'em up all year. They mostly seem to stay in town so they don't get shot at much.

 

[Stumpkiller]

We have field sparrows, song sparrows, white throated sparrows, chipping sparrows, and also red polls & house finches that look like sparrows. All native and protected.

All look almost identical to the English Sparrow (aka house sparrow). Be sure.

There are a half-dozen native grackles in the US. They're smart birds (and when I was a young Crossman 760 shooter . . . )

 

[hoochiepapa]

When we lived in Pueblo, our neighbor out back raised collared doves and released them, and also bobwhite quail. DOW didn't care.

 

[Britsmoothy]

We have hundreds of them doves in Britain. I remember seeing whole 50acre fields covered in them in Germany, if they all got up you could not see the other end of the field!

Taste ok :thumbsup:

B.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Starlings, English Sparrows( you need to know the different species) and Pigeons are all non-protected species in Illinois. Grackles are considered "Song Birds", and are protected here. ( I don't know how you can call the noise they make a " Song"-- as its a harsh raspy sound, much like their name) but the decision to make them a song bird was done by folks at a higher pay grade than me. I was once attacked by Grackles, because I dared protect my family cat from their attacks. They have purple colored neck feathers, which distinguish them from common black birds, or the red winged tipped starlings.

 

[Brent]

red winged tipped starlings.

That would be red-winged blackbird I think.

BTW, grackles are passerines; all passerines are song birds regardless of how tuneful they sound to humans.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I think I conceded that they are considered Songbirds. My personal opinion is biased by the attack I experienced, and having to listen to dozens of them in my back yard, Screaming at the family cat in the early morning. Their raspy crow is anything but musical to my ear.

Worse, they tend to be bullies, and drive away true song birds from any area they inhabit.

Personally, I think they are the perfect reason to own a BB gun, and follow the 3 S rule: Shoot-'em, Shovel 'em, and Shut up about doing it. There are millions of them, so there is no possibility of killing enough of them to cause a threat to the species existence. But, you might be able to sleep a bit longer ever morning, and not have to worry every time you walk out of the house whether you are going to be attacked by them. :surrender: :hmm:

 

[Brent]

Yeah, break the laws, kill'em whenever - it was said they could never kill off the passenger pigeons or the bison either.

Anyway, I tried to explain why they are songbirds, which has nothing to do with how musical they sound to humans.

Put another way, songbirds sing - literally - for their mates and to defend territories. While something like a turkey also calls for much the same reason, it is not quite the same deal across all birds. Meanwhile within their group, songbirds are pretty much uniformly singers for sex and station. Not so much in most other birds. Songbird songs are complex, have both learned and genetic components to them and even local "dialects" or accents. And they are all, not coincidentally, all found in one big order of birds Passeriformes (aka passerines, aka songbirds).

I don't understand the need to kill everything that irritates us. I feel much the same way about little children that you feel about grackles. :hmm:

 

[August West]

Yeah, break the laws, kill'em whenever - it was said they could never kill off the passenger pigeons or the bison either.

Anyway, I tried to explain why they are songbirds, which has nothing to do with how musical they sound to humans.

Put another way, songbirds sing - literally - for their mates and to defend territories. While something like a turkey also calls for much the same reason, it is not quite the same deal across all birds. Meanwhile within their group, songbirds are pretty much uniformly singers for sex and station. Not so much in most other birds. Songbird songs are complex, have both learned and genetic components to them and even local "dialects" or accents. And they are all, not coincidentally, all found in one big order of birds Passeriformes (aka passerines, aka songbirds).

I don't understand the need to kill everything that irritates us. I feel much the same way about little children that you feel about grackles. :hmm:

Brent, I try to stay away from you, I know you are probably just trolling but really, comparing killing a bird to a human child and on a hunting forum to boot???? :youcrazy:

So do you work for greenpeace or PETA maybe both? You have made your point that in a lot of areas grackles are protected, but jeez, give it a rest. Chris

 

[Britsmoothy]

I love the folk that are vocal against my shootin' vermin and then put poisen down when they get rats n' mice :rotf:

B.

 

[luieb45]

Back when I was younger on a rainy day I'd be watching tv by the window with a view to the back yard and would have my bow and an arrow with a grabber tip on it ready for action :haha:. I'd wait till they land back in the yard and I'd sneak out the back garage door and pop one of them. They were eating all my worms I used to catch at night for all my fishing in those days.

 

[Dave K]

I always felt in my neck of the woods anyhow, that the red wing black bird was truly the bird that was the first to tell us it was spring. Now, cats in the yard, stalking the bird feeder, is a whole nother topic for me. :grin: The red wings though for me, get free passage.

 

[Scharms]

The only birds I shoot are crows, but only when they're in season... Good thing they have a long season! :wink:

 

[woodse guy]

But what about Turkeys and Ducks they have seasons and they are tasty to. :surrender:

 

[longcruise]

I feel much the same way about little children that you feel about grackles.

Lots more meat on a kid though.