Non-motoring > any naturalists out there ? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: borasport Replies: 11
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 13:25 
 any naturalists out there ? - borasport
not naturists :-)

I went for a bit of fresh air and daylight at lunchtime and came across the remains of a dead blackbird. Now in the garden at home if I come across this sort of thing it's usually a couple of bones and a mass of feathers all over the lawn - here, there were no loose feathers around and what remained had been fairly clinically divided into the wings and tail, and everything else had gone.
Is this the known m.o. of any particular beast ? Who did it, Hercule ?
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 14:18 
 any naturalists out there ? - FotheringtonTomas
A sparrowhawk. They pluck their prey before eating it. Sometimes they carry the plucked carcass to a different place, e.g. if interrupted.
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 14:40 
 any naturalists out there ? - borasport
FT - the three portions of blackbird that remained still had all feathers attached.

I've seen a sparrowhawk take a sparrow in our garden and it left quite a mess of feathers - nothing like that around at this crime scene !
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 14:59 
 any naturalists out there ? - FotheringtonTomas
They don't always pluck/ear the whole thing!
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 16:06 
 any naturalists out there ? - helicopter
Definitely a Sparrowhawk . Death with wings .

They are quite common in my garden and I have sat and watched through the binoculars sometimes for an hour as they pluck and dissect their prey .

You have to admire their deadly precision .

Its quite upsetting when they get one of our resident blackbirds , pigeons or doves that we feed but unfortunately thats nature.......
Last edited by: retpocileh on Tue 16 Mar 10 at 16:07
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 16:16 
 any naturalists out there ? - Iffy
Saw one tucking into a seagull the other day.

We could do with more - sparrowhawks that is.
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 16:28 
 any naturalists out there ? - Dog
I had 2 pure white Fantailed Doves - Mr. Sparrowhawk had em both,
I actually saw the critter once with a Dove in his talon, I'd have shot him (at the time) with my .22 hunting rifle but,
we're no better - we just get other people to do the killing.
Last edited by: Dog on Tue 16 Mar 10 at 16:29
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 17:52 
 any naturalists out there ? - FotheringtonTomas
That's very big, a collard dove is about their limit. I have never heard of a sparrowhawk taking a seagull. I would've thought the other way around was more likely, seagulls are pretty capable. Are you sure it was a gull?
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 23:10 
 any naturalists out there ? - Iffy
...Are you sure it was a gull?...

I didn't see the kill, so it may be the sparrowhawk - if that's what it was - was scavenging.

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New Tue 16 Mar 10 23:23 
 any naturalists out there ? - Ted

I got a Pigeon this morning. two of them tucking into something in the road.
I didn't notice them as it was busy. One got away but I heard and felt a bang under the Suzuki.

Can't remember when I last got a kill.........I think it was a moggie.
Sorry, Pat.

Ted
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New Tue 16 Mar 10 23:28 
 any naturalists out there ? - Iffy
I clouted something light in colour last summer.

Feathers and down everywhere - like it was snowing hard.

Driver behind - who was following too close - had to put his windscreen wipers on.
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New Wed 17 Mar 10 01:25 
 any naturalists out there ? - Screwloose

The tidiness of the carcase and lack of small feathers might suggest a fox scavenging.

I used to be host to a friendly vixen whose responsibilities included the disposal of my many American tree-rat victims.

Their skins were always left neatly spread-eagled on the lawn with only the head, paws and tail left attached. She'd sliced them open with surgical precision and the only thing left inside the licked-clean skin were the vertebrae. Even the ribs had been bitten off and eaten.
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