The title says it all I guess. This site claims to have pictures of a bird pulling coins out of a coin machine. Are these real photographs or some clever image manipulation? My untrained eye doesn’t see any indication that the photographs are fake, but I can’t imagine that the car wash machine is so uncomplicated that a bird would be able to crawl through the mechanism to pull out coins.
I dunno…my BS meter seems to be going off on this one. Something as odd as this (if true) surely would have been on CNN or something.
Plus, why in the world would birds be stealing quarters?
The angle of the shadows is right. I don’t see any of the tell-tell artifacts of clipping. The colors look balanced. If it’s a forgery, it is excellent work. It looks real to me.
Um, they claim that over $4000 in quarters were “found” nearby. That’s over 16,000 quarters! How they didn’t notice that many lying around makes me think either they’re lying or very much exaggerating.
Like the article about the crow making a tool out of a wire recently - this article makes me worry a bit about what the Feathered Ones may do to me someday…
And you thought the “Birds” were a rock group… Bwhahahahhaha
One wonders what evil deed they were planning to fund with that money…
After taking Graphic Design for 3 years, it’s pretty BAD quality, not to mention 110% fake.
If you’d ever shared your backyard with magpies, you wouldn’t be asking this question. OOH, SHINY! (Not that the birds in the photos are magpies, for the record - but then I doubt they’re the only bird that steals things Just Because.)
The web page design is almost non-existent, that’s for sure, but are you suggesting that the photographs are doctored? Please explain your observations and reasoning.
I must admit I fully expected the pictures to show a Corvid, but that’s a starling if I’m not mistaken.
Well, I don’t think argument from authority will help us here. I’ve been professionally working as a photographer for over 5 years, and I’d bet the house it’s a real photo. So much for expertise, but here are my reasons:
Everything about it is right on. The lighting is consistent. The shadows are correct. The reflections of color from the bird’s plumage are evident in the silver of the coin box. The poorish image quality is consistent throughout the photo. The pic of the bird flying looks exactly like a pic of this type would look. The motion blur is correct, the plane of focus is consistent.
I highly, highly, highly doubt this is a fake. Besides that, why the heck would anyone fake a photo like this? Doesn’t that seem a bit… odd?
Photo Lab Tech here.
Proportions are right. The shot of the bird inside the coin cup is a little weird, but that may just be the emotional reaction to the incogruity of the scene.
I can’t rule it out as genuine. But, I mostly work in Aerial Photography.
At a wildlife vet centre nearby, a crow named Rodger had the run of the place. He was injured and spent an entire winter indoors swooping around the vet’s office. (Now he lives in the park across the street.)
He used to steal syringes. Vetinary staff had to be very concientious about keeping the plastic cover thingies on the needle part because if you set one down for a second he would dive down and try to grab it. He would also go to great lengths to break into drawers and cabinets to steal them. He never did anything with them. He just collected them in a very large stash on top of one of the cabinets. And he’d defend his stash quite emphatically.
By the end of the day, if the vet staff wasn’t really vigilant about his thieving, he’d usually have about two dozen syringes and other assorted items like eyedroppers, earrings and the occasional dog biscuit.
Didn’t anyone here read Sterling North’s Rascal? I keep thinking of Poe the Crow, who lived up in the belfry of the Methodist church and stole pennies, car keys, and even a diamond engagement ring. “What fun! What fun!”
So Trancey, if I read your post correctly, it seems you’re asserting that the photos are faked. This runs against the apparent consensus on this thread; would you care to point out to us why you think the photos are faked?
Good bag, check.
Cheap shoes, check.
<sniff sniff>
L’Air du Temps, check.
Yep, that’s a Starling all right.
Please share your extensive knowledge with us, would you?
Back off everyone. This guys a professional. Let him do his job now.
It’s one of those counting crows.