# Seems like Women do this and I don't get it
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 19, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709 "2013-05-19T00:40:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@stoplight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoplight)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/1 "2013-05-19T00:40:34Z")
My wife and her friend are two of the many woman I know that have, with all good intent, colluded in the deaths of several birds, including but not limited to Dove, Quail, Finch, Sparrow and whatever species I missed.
Both of them have put out bird feeders. After a short while word gets out and the feeders are crowded with birds. Couple weeks back 10 couples gathered for a bbq. My wife’s friend goes on about how a Red Tail hawk swooped out of the sky and tore into a Dove. All the women gasped in horror while simultaneously all the guys laughed.
Got me thinking, not one guy I know has put out a bird feeder but many women have and then complain when the apex predator shows up. What gives gals? is it not how the world works or are you expecting something different to happen?
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/2 "2013-05-19T00:45:14Z")
> [@stoplight](#):
>
> Got me thinking, not one guy I know has put out a bird feeder but many women have and then complain when the apex predator shows up. What gives gals? is it not how the world works or are you expecting something different to happen?
My father has been feeing birds with multiple feeders my whole life. I’ve never seen it as a “women’s thing.”
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/3 "2013-05-19T00:46:24Z")
They want to look at the pretty birds, but don’t necessarily want to see the pretty birds eaten.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/4 "2013-05-19T00:48:17Z")
don’t discount the pleasure of watching squirrels.
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### Author:  [@stoplight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoplight)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/5 "2013-05-19T00:49:05Z")
> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> My father has been feeing birds with multiple feeders my whole life. I’ve never seen it as a “women’s thing.”
and when one gets plucked by the apex big dog on the block how does your dad handle it?
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### Author:  [@Mathematics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathematics)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/6 "2013-05-19T00:53:32Z")
Yeah, those silly women with their pathetic knowledge of ecology.
I don’t know, I figure most people don’t really think before they do things. It’s easy for anyone to say, “Ooh, I can attract nice birds right outside my window!” without thinking about the ramifications.
I’ve never noticed that this bird feeder thing tends to be a female-only issue either.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/7 "2013-05-19T00:54:59Z")
> [@stoplight](#):
>
> a Red Tail hawk swooped out of the sky and tore into a Dove.
So, that’s one more bird that got fed at the bird feeder. What’s the problem?
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### Author:  [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/8 "2013-05-19T00:55:56Z")
If you need some data points no one in my birding club bats an eyelash when a Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned snags a meal. Raptors are scarce and hurting from habitat loss, so we mostly view bird feeders as serving a dual purpose.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/9 "2013-05-19T00:56:21Z")
Now it’s a hawk feeder.
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### Author:  [@stoplight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoplight)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/10 "2013-05-19T00:59:46Z")
> [@Mathematics](#):
>
> Yeah, those silly women with their pathetic knowledge of ecology.
>
> I don’t know, I figure most people don’t really think before they do things. It’s easy for anyone to say, “Ooh, I can attract nice birds right outside my window!” without thinking about the ramifications.
>
> I’ve never noticed that this bird feeder thing tends to be a female-only issue either.
yeah, I should say within our intimate and acquaintance circle I know of no men who put out bird feeders so I have no idea how they react when the apex decides its time to chow down.
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### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/11 "2013-05-19T01:22:17Z")
I am a woman.
I do not put out a bird feeder.
If putting out a bird feeder meant I got to see a hawk take out a dove with anything approaching regularity, I’d have ten.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/12 "2013-05-19T01:41:27Z")
My bird feeders are all indoors, along with my pet birds.
The wild birds have to make do with what they find in my garden and compost heap.
I have zero problem with apex predators doing their thing. Then again, I look at a deer and think “dinner”, not Bambi.
Admittedly, I’m not a typical women.
But yeah, a lot of people don’t understand the pretty little songbirds are food for other critters.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/13 "2013-05-19T02:43:55Z")
I’d prefer not to feed birds (due to the associated rodent population, not the birds themselves), but my husband insists that he’s keeping starvation at bay with his feeders. Actually, the feral cats that live in our shed _do_ eat pretty well at the feeders.
I had some surgery a while back, so maybe it’s my lack of ovaries that makes me not care about feeding birds.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/14 "2013-05-19T02:52:05Z")
> [@stoplight](#):
>
> and when one gets plucked by the apex big dog on the block how does your dad handle it?
I put out feeders. Last time a Cooper’s Hawk took a bird I took pix and uploaded them to Facebook.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Cat\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Cat_Z)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/15 "2013-05-19T02:52:20Z")
> [@MandaJo](#):
>
> I am a woman.
>
> I do not put out a bird feeder.
>
> If putting out a bird feeder meant I got to see a hawk take out a dove with anything approaching regularity, I’d have ten.
Yesssss!
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/16 "2013-05-19T03:17:43Z")
Damnit. I always suspected I was gay.
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/17 "2013-05-19T03:34:30Z")
The only person I know with a bird feeder is my Grandpa.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/18 "2013-05-19T03:39:35Z")
> [@stoplight](#):
>
> and when one gets plucked by the apex big dog on the block how does your dad handle it?
He’s never mentioned it. I’m sure he be fascinated, but I don’t know if it has happened.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/19 "2013-05-19T04:46:17Z")
Old people are allowed to do gay things because back in the old days it was perfectly heteronormative to shower and bathe nude with other men and feed the birds and fondle another man’s genitals in the bushes at the rest stop! It didn’t make you gay, dagnabbit!
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-like-women-do-this-and-i-dont-get-it/658709/20 "2013-05-19T04:56:04Z")
> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> He’s never mentioned it. I’m sure he be fascinated, but I don’t know if it has happened.
I’ve never seen this happen at my feeders either. I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed.
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