Forum Discussion

Cinebar's avatar
5 years ago

Bird Watching Hobby

What you don't know about me is I am an amateur bird watcher from the comforts of my backyard. Living in a large wooded area where deer often wander onto our land, saw a doe and baby fawn the other day. Oh, look! it's Bambi! lol, but I love birds. I was just sitting on our back porch telling someone I have never seen a redhead woodpecker where we live. We have the much smaller woodpeckers like Hariy Woodpecker, or other ones. Like magic two large Pileated Redhead woodpeckers flew down from a very tall tree...like OMG!, what? Who was listening? Nature is funny. First time ever in twenty years I even knew they were there. It started to peck on our fence. It was magical.

I think if you add hobbies to TS4 or future game you should add bird watching. It was fun to try to get a snapshot of it, because this was something highly unusal for me to see, it's huge! lol I liked bird watching as a hobby in TS2, but it would be fun for players like me to have to scout an area of woods to try to find specific ones. I was very, very fortunate today, I couldn't believe it and about fell out of my chair trying to go get a camera. Someone above was like really? here you go...they do exists on your land. lol

In an old Nancy Drew game she had to go treking through woods to find particular ones, by listening to their calls. Identifying specific birds by their feathers, colors, size and tweets would be a fun hobby for Sims. ETA: Been very lucky these past several lock down months. Saw so much wildlife even a little wren made her nest in my flower pot a few months ago, I think I might change my name to SnowWhite. ;)

Thanks for reading!
  • I actually would really enjoy this. I love my little bird feeder, but it kind of disappoints me that you cannot do more and the houses cannot have similar pixel birds around them. Or see more wildlife in Granite Falls. I would love to see some wild animals like the skunk and NPC raccoons that cause trouble like in previous iterations.

    I suppose it may sound a little odd, but I would pay for some sort of backyard wildlife pack. (It might even be something you could fit into a stuff pack, though whether or not that is desirable is another matter.)
  • I like the idea of bird watching. I can imagine all of these things

    Features

    • Bird Watching Club
    • Bird Watching outings
    • Discovering a new wild bird or spotting a rare one
    • Listening to Bird Song
    • Bird Watchers Forums, Field Guide & Magazine
    • Trying to lure a bird with a bird call
    • Helping a baby bird that has fallen from its nest
    • Donations to a Sim's version of the Audubon society
    • Tie-ins to all of the ecological stuff in other packs
    • Protests to protect an area specific to an endangered bird like a crane
    • Wild birds for already existing neighborhoods
    • Perhaps this would be a nice way to add large birds as Pets like Parrots and Cockatiels
    • Teaching Parrots to talk
    • Playing the guitar for the Cockatiel to dance to
    • Asking if Polly wants a cracker
    • Ravens as they are very smart and excellent mimics
    • Cockatiels dancing and head banging to music
    • New Veterinarian treatments
    • Cat Entertainment Channel with nothing but Birds eating seeds and chirping. Cats watching for hours
    • Love Birds and Parakeets
    • Birds of Prey like Peregrin Hawks or Owls both wild and as pets
    • Feeding the pigeons
    • Pelicans and Sea Gulls at beach type areas
    • Knitting Nests for baby birds if you have the knitting pack. This is a real thing. https://audubon.org/news/knests-kneedy


    Objects


    • Hummingbird Feeder
    • Bird Bath for splashing and drinking
    • Binoculars
    • Bird Call
    • Bird cages and stands
    • Bird House
    • Bat House
    • Sketch Pads


    New Foods


    • Bird Seed
    • Suet
    • Hummingbird Nectar
    • Hummingbird Cake to the list of Baked Goods
    • Granola
    • Cornish Game Hen
    • Eggs in a Basket (Breakfast food)
    • Toad in the Hole (Sausage with Yorkshire pudding)
    • BBQ Chicken Wings and french fries


    New Harvestable Plants


    • Sunflowers


    And I'd call it Birds of a Feather
  • I see your idea and i agree, owls would fit with realm of magic and bats would make for good familiars for vampires, and to add to your list, you could make some cool things with any feathers you can find laying on the ground like dreamcatchers and pillows.
  • RouenSims's avatar
    RouenSims
    Seasoned Rookie
    I would love this! I was seriously considering starting a thread about this a couple of weeks ago, when I was listening to recorded bird songs! I want Sims to be able to go on birdwatching walks, as we hear soothing bird songs all around them. It would be really fun in first person view to see all the birds flying around.
  • CAPTAIN_NXR7's avatar
    CAPTAIN_NXR7
    Seasoned Hotshot
    "Cinebar;d-978740" wrote:
    Saw so much wildlife even a little wren made her nest in my flower pot a few months ago, I think I might change my name to SnowWhite. ;)

    Thanks for reading!


    Well hello SnowWhite. Make sure there are no funny little dwarfs hiding in your flowerpots! Or should we call them gnomes? ;)

    This is a great idea though. I’m a nature lover and I actually got inspired when you mentioned the doe and fawn.
    In TS3 I used to have my sim watch and follow the deer skipping across the meadows. I miss those details in TS4. Somehow it’s very calming to look at wild animals going about their business, even in a virtual landscape.
    So I’m all for a birdwatching feature. It could include teaching them to talk and fetch treasures, like the bees in Seasons.
    Great ideas mentioned in this thread so far.
  • "redrogue60;c-17576366" wrote:
    I like the idea of bird watching. I can imagine all of these things

    And I'd call it Birds of a Feather


    I like your ideas. I have a sim who collects the bird feathers and displays them on the wall. They are really pretty.