are terfs actual feminists or do most transphobic women just call themselves that?

I'm sure some are... but I would say certainly seems to be a much larger percentage that prioritize their hatred of trans... and don't seem to do a lot of actual reach in protecting women.

Big thing is the terf label or stereotype is generally assumed to try to make it look like you are fighting for a group, rather than fighting against. Lets say hypothetically I'm claiming to be super in favor of protecting birds, and say that I hate wind farms because they kill birds

If you never once hear me talk about house cats, or poachers, or any of 500 other things that can kill birds, you'll pretty quickly catch on that I'm not actually pro-bird. Especially if I start reposting statistics about wind farms that have already been debunked etc...