defector-orange-no-empty-space

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

Footer Legal

Header - Categories

Header Menu

The last good website.

Topics

This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

defector-no-empty-space

Defector

Enter Our Raffle To Win A Visit And Home-Cooked Meal From Drew Magary

let-drew-cook-final

tip jar sweepstakes

headshot

Barry Petchesky

A 16 foot sculpture of a pigeon named dinosaur at the Highline in New York City on November 4, 2024. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/AFP)

US-LIFESTYLE

Arts And Culture

The Big Pigeon Isn’t Scary Enough


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Typing

Sabrina Imbler

two penguins stand in front of an inflatable rainbow arch in a penguin enclosure

Screenshot 2024-08-22 at 10.55.14 AM

Creaturefector

Sphen The Gay Penguin Broke The Ice

<p>Matt Ufford is the head of video and audio at Yahoo Sports.</p>


ufford-author

Matt Ufford

A yellow-headed caracara close to reasonably priced children’s clothes and locked-up deodorant. Photo: Matt Ufford

caracara

Wings Week

Let The World Come To You On The Wings Of Vagrant Birds

IMG_3819

Tom Ley

Jokic bird

Nikola Met A Bird

Greenfinches and Goldfinches on and around a bird feeder.

Busy Bird Feeder

Birdfector

You’re A Birder, James Hetfield

An image of Flaco in his chain-link exhibit at the Central Park Zoo

Screen Shot 2024-02-27 at 10.23.36 AM

What Do We Owe Zoo Animals?

Flaco

Flaco Never Escaped

AJSfPYY9_400x400-1

Kelsey McKinney

Flaco, a brown and black Eurasian eagle owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo, roosts in a tree in New York's Central Park with a squirrel nearby.

Flaco, an escaped Eagle owl, remains in Central Park

Animals

Flaco Gave Us A Willingness To See The World

An African grey parrot looking at the camera

Let The British Parrots Say “Fuck”

<div id="1695913206.579009" class="c-virtual_list__item c-virtual_list__item--initial-activeitem" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913206.579009">
<div class="c-message_kit__background c-message_kit__background--hovered p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover c-message_kit__hover--hovered" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" role="presentation" data-qa="message_content">
<div class="c-message_kit__indent">
<div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text c-message_kit__blocks--inline">
<div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text c-message__message_blocks--inline" data-qa="message-text">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer p-block_kit_renderer--inline" data-qa="block-kit-renderer">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first">
<div class="p-rich_text_block p-rich_text_block--inline" dir="auto">
<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1695913224.677889" class="c-virtual_list__item" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913224.677889">
<div class="c-message_kit__background p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__left" role="presentation"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


8b2c55a3-643f-49c0-b14a-0e4470463bef_1200x1200-1

Tom Scocca

A male blue jay, perched on a branch with green foliage in the fore- and background.

Blue Jay

Margin Of Error

The Omens Are Bad

A beautiful Streaked Shearwater in flight seen in the sea of Toshima.

Get Ready With Me (A Streaked Shearwater)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 15: Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo, continues to roost and hunt in Central Park, February 15, 2023 in New York City, New York. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Flaco Has Flown Free

LAKE FOREST, CA - JULY 16: Dr. Scott Weldy of the Orange County Bird of Prey Center holds a Cooper"u2019s hawk just prior to releasing it near Lake Forest on Thursday, July 16, 2020. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

Bird Of Prey Release

North American Birds Will No Longer Be Named After People

A pigeon looks in the photographer's camera in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on November 17, 2016. / AFP / dpa / Frank Rumpenhorst / Germany OUT (Photo credit should read FRANK RUMPENHORST/DPA/AFP via Getty Images)

GERMANY-ANIMALS-PIGEON

Birds Are More Like Us Than You Think, Olivia Rodrigo


<p>Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.</p>


DFmBbTQF_400x400

Dan McQuade

The new Saint Joseph’s Hawk, flapping his wings next to a statue of a real Hawk, with the slogan THE HAWK WILL NEVER DIE

new-st-joes-hawk

St. Joe’s Just Couldn’t Get Any More Hawk Feathers

a magpie nest in a tree. the nest is built from a bunch of anti-bird spikes, which are long spiky needles attached to strips.

Magpie nest, Antwerp (BE), photo Auke-Florian Hiemstra

There’s No Such Thing As Hostile Architecture When You’re A Bird

birds

This Is A Public Service Announcement For Every Bird

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 13: Starting pitcher Zac Gallen #23 of the Arizona Diamondbacks gestures at home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus #18 during the fourth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field on May 13, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona.

zac-gallen

Zac Gallen Is Now An Enemy Of The Birds

NCAA Division I Mascot Analysis - Four mascots listed Florida Atlantic: Owlsley Temple: Hooter Kennesaw State: Scrappy Rice: Sammy Also a milk carton with "WHERE IS HOOT?" and a picture of him on it and an OWLFECTOR logo with two little owls perching on it

owls-defector

College Basketball

Owl You Need To Know About Owl Mascots

Flaco 6

Oh No! The Big, Beautiful Owl Got Out!

A domestic pigeon that has been dyed pink with hair dye.

pink pigeon 2 phyllis tseng WBF

Justice For Flamingo, Who Did Not Consent To Being Dyed Pink

Wisdom the Laysan Albatross resting on her nest

51744561958_cedc4bf76e_c

Wisdom The Laysan Albatross Is The Most Beautiful 71-Year-Old In The World

cardinal

A Bird Idiot’s Guide To Winter Birding

headshot1

Patrick Redford

Screen Shot 2022-10-12 at 8.45.19 PM

The Dodgers Squandered A Rally Goose By Putting It In A Trash Can

WOLLOGONG, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 19: Detailed view of birds perched on a railing during the 95th UCI Road World Championships 2022 - Men U23 Individual Time Trial a 28,8km / #Wollongong2022 / on September 19, 2022 in Wollongong, Australia. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

95th UCI Road World Championships 2022 – Men U23 Individual Time Trial

Cycling

The Winner Of The Cycling World Championships Is: Birds