Did my cat just killed a bird?

In ,
MacCandace composed with style:

I seldom see a dead bird in my neighborhood but
there a ton of living ones. I don't think cats generally eat an
animal that has died of natural causes and we don't have any
natural predators in our neighborhood.

Things that make you think. One time I was driving down the road
and a duck fell out of the sky and landed on the road in front of me.
I always wondered what happened to it and why it was flying if it was
sick. Maybe a heart attack or something; I doubt it was shot [here,
city] but you never know.

In article ,
itter (MacCandace) wrote:

Personally, I wonder why we don't see more
dead birds laying around. There are zillions of birds and they only live a
year or 2 naturally, so where are their bodies? In rural areas, I suppose
predators get them but in big cities, etc., I don't know where they go. I
seldom see a dead bird in my neighborhood but there a ton of living ones. I
don't think cats generally eat an animal that has died of natural causes and
we
don't have any natural predators in our neighborhood.

I'll bet you don't prowl around on roof tops too much. They probably
huddle down somewhere, not feeling well, and then die in place -- on the
aforementioned rooftops, on cornices, under overhangs, in the same kind
of places they'd nest.

Priscilla

In article ,
itter (MacCandace) wrote:

Personally, I wonder why we don't see more
dead birds laying around. There are zillions of birds and they only live a
year or 2 naturally, so where are their bodies? In rural areas, I suppose
predators get them but in big cities, etc., I don't know where they go. I
seldom see a dead bird in my neighborhood but there a ton of living ones. I
don't think cats generally eat an animal that has died of natural causes and
we
don't have any natural predators in our neighborhood.

I'll bet you don't prowl around on roof tops too much. They probably
huddle down somewhere, not feeling well, and then die in place -- on the
aforementioned rooftops, on cornices, under overhangs, in the same kind
of places they'd nest.

Priscilla

I'll bet you don't prowl around on roof tops too much. They probably
huddle down somewhere, not feeling well, and then die in place -- on the
aforementioned rooftops, on cornices, under overhangs, in the same kind
of places they'd nest.

Priscilla

Hmmm, well, I suppose there are some up there but a lot of birds nest in trees
so they oughtta drop outta them if they die in them. Actually, here in AZ,
we're up on our roof fairly often as the a/c, the evaporative cooler, and the
furnace are up there (common here for some reason) and we've never seen any.
I've seen a couple of dead ones in my yard that appeared to die of natural
causes. One day, a few minutes after I came home from work, there was a dead
flicker in my driveway. He hadn't been there when I came home. My neighbor
said she had heard him singing up in the tree earlier that day and he was right
under "his" tree so I guess he probably was fortunate enough to just drop dead
suddenly. We should all be so lucky.

I see your point, Priscilla, but the sheer quantity of birds would seem to
indicate there should be more dead ones laying around. IMHO, anyway.



Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

I'll bet you don't prowl around on roof tops too much. They probably
huddle down somewhere, not feeling well, and then die in place -- on the
aforementioned rooftops, on cornices, under overhangs, in the same kind
of places they'd nest.

Priscilla

Hmmm, well, I suppose there are some up there but a lot of birds nest in trees
so they oughtta drop outta them if they die in them. Actually, here in AZ,
we're up on our roof fairly often as the a/c, the evaporative cooler, and the
furnace are up there (common here for some reason) and we've never seen any.
I've seen a couple of dead ones in my yard that appeared to die of natural
causes. One day, a few minutes after I came home from work, there was a dead
flicker in my driveway. He hadn't been there when I came home. My neighbor
said she had heard him singing up in the tree earlier that day and he was right
under "his" tree so I guess he probably was fortunate enough to just drop dead
suddenly. We should all be so lucky.

I see your point, Priscilla, but the sheer quantity of birds would seem to
indicate there should be more dead ones laying around. IMHO, anyway.



Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

In ,
MacCandace composed with style:

I see your point, Priscilla, but the sheer quantity of birds would
seem to indicate there should be more dead ones laying around.
IMHO, anyway.

I think insects get at them pretty quickly. Ants.

In ,
MacCandace composed with style:

I see your point, Priscilla, but the sheer quantity of birds would
seem to indicate there should be more dead ones laying around.
IMHO, anyway.

I think insects get at them pretty quickly. Ants.

One died in my backyard a few of years ago. I came home form work & there
was an obviously ill crow on back lawn, poor guy (or girl). He wandered
into the garden & I guess died in there someplace. 'Cause about an hour
later I heard a large amount of cawing that lasted perhaps 30 minutes - lots
of other crows gathered in a sort of circle around the place I'd last seen
the sick one - I think they were holding a wake or funeral.

Cathy

Wow, that's pretty cool. I'll have to tell my cousin this as she considers the
crow her personal totem. I've heard crows are exceedingly intelligent and able
to use tools, etc. I read where they have been observed putting nuts in the
path of cars and watching until the cars run over the nuts and then going and
eating the innards.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

One died in my backyard a few of years ago. I came home form work & there
was an obviously ill crow on back lawn, poor guy (or girl). He wandered
into the garden & I guess died in there someplace. 'Cause about an hour
later I heard a large amount of cawing that lasted perhaps 30 minutes - lots
of other crows gathered in a sort of circle around the place I'd last seen
the sick one - I think they were holding a wake or funeral.

Cathy

Wow, that's pretty cool. I'll have to tell my cousin this as she considers the
crow her personal totem. I've heard crows are exceedingly intelligent and able
to use tools, etc. I read where they have been observed putting nuts in the
path of cars and watching until the cars run over the nuts and then going and
eating the innards.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)

"MacCandace" wrote in message
...
One died in my backyard a few of years ago. I came home form work &
there
was an obviously ill crow on back lawn, poor guy (or girl). He wandered
into the garden & I guess died in there someplace. 'Cause about an hour
later I heard a large amount of cawing that lasted perhaps 30 minutes -
lots
of other crows gathered in a sort of circle around the place I'd last seen
the sick one - I think they were holding a wake or funeral.

Cathy

Wow, that's pretty cool. I'll have to tell my cousin this as she
considers the
crow her personal totem. I've heard crows are exceedingly intelligent and
able
to use tools, etc. I read where they have been observed putting nuts in
the
path of cars and watching until the cars run over the nuts and then going
and
eating the innards.

Candace

Yep, I read that, too. Don't know if it was here, or as an OT post/thread
on another ng.

Also there was Betty the crow (she made the news maybe a year or so ago),
who fashioned a hook out of a straight piece of wire to fish up a little
tiny pail of food that was sitting inside a small cylinder - the little pail
of food was placed out of her reach if she had used just her beak or feet.

Then there was the crow who found a Styrofoam cup in a street & got inside
of it & rolled down the hill - the street was on a hill. When other crows
saw him/her doing that, they took turns - getting into the cup & rolling
down the hill & bringing the cup back up to the top of the hill again to
repeat the process - just having fun, I guess.

Also the story I heard from Jean Craighead George - author of "Julie of the
Wolves" & other wildlife books, at a conference. She told a story about a
semi-pet crow named Crowbar that they had when her daughter was little. Her
little girl was playing on the slide in their yard. Crowbar flew to the top
of the slide, and tried to imitate her, but he couldn't slide - being a
bird, his feet just "stuck". He looked around, flew over to the child's
sandbox, picked up an aluminum pie pan that was in the sandbox, placed it at
the top of the slide, stepped into it, and slid down.

I agree; smart birds. :-)

Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon