When I was a kid, growing up in Oregon, we had a small orchard with cherry trees, filberts, etc.
To "save" the cherries, my brothers and I shot all the robins we could with our BB guns and slingshots,
Fast forward to our early 20's and my brother was out plinking with his 22.
A game warden comes along and asks what he's shooting...O, just some robins he says....So the Officer writes him out a ticket.
That's when he learned they were illegal to shoot...(grin!)
Virgil B.