Bird Table News

Bird Eating Bird

Carol has written in to tell me she has seen a crow eat a swift.  I wonder if that is another reason for a decline in swift numbers – a rise in the number of Crow numbers.

i have seen a crow attack a swift and then eat it alive ,i always thought crows lived on road kill now i know better. Carol

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Here are some more comments on the subject -

I didn’t know crows ate larger birds. I knew they could go after chicks and eggs and also eat off carcasses, but I never imagined they would kill a Blackbird or Dove. This is so very sad because songbirds need to exist too.

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I think once the Swallows are here the garden birds will become more vigilant to what’s around as the Swallow give off a very audible alarm and seem to be very alert most if not all of the time.

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Trish said,

I never thought about crows eating blackbirds until I saw it with my own eyes.

I have heard that swallows warn other birds about danger,but never really thought about it. We always get swallows here so maybe swallows have been warning the garden birds for years

Shell said,

The Swallows usually give off a persistent alarm call which is separate from their twittering. The call seems high pitched and sounds quite alarming. Sometimes you may see them dive bombing/swooping making that sound.

Some birds may also make the alarm call if they are hungry.

If I hear any bird and in particular Swallows make an alarm call I usually go and investigate. Swallows seem to be extremely good at alerting other birds to danger.

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Carol wrote to me because of an article I’d written on Bird Table News in 2009.  I really sometimes think it is amazing how all this works.  

Carol, it must have  been upsetting for you but it is an amazing thing you have seen.  It must have happened in flight did it?

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Carol wrote because she read this article

http://birdtablenews.com/2009/08/crow-eating-a-blackbird/comment-page-1/#comment-1071

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KEEPING GARDEN BIRDS SAFE

When we attract birds to our gardens by putting bird food out we often also attract birds of prey such as Sparrowhawks.  I have been writing about this problem and readers have been getting in touch

This photo shows such a good idea put into  practice.  It must be worth a try as it does not harm the sparrowhawk – just frightens it away.  Elaine has had it hanging in her garden  for 6 weeks and it has not deflated. 

It’s not a technical idea is it?  But it is such a simple idea – put something big and frightening in the garden. 

 This is what Elaine said

Hi, sorry not to have got back to you, had the dreaded cough virus.

Well so far, no sightings of the sparrowhawk. I havent actually strung the deterrent up as was instructed, mainly because of trying to find poles and where to attach them at the house end, that extend at least 15 foot in height. So for the time being I have managed to hang it in the apple tree, which is not advised in the summer because of the foliage covering it. Unfortunately it doesnt have a non return type valve like a beach air bed etc. so you need plenty of puff and I had to stick my tongue over the hole each time I drew for breath and then mad panic to get the stopper in!! I have had all sorts of comical remarks from neighbours and the gas engineer thought I was celebrating the chinese new year!!

You can see it here: http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/jen26-bucket/HawkDeterrent.jpg

Anyway, its been there for 6 weeks now in all the awful weather we have had and only showing slight signs of deflation, so I am hoping it will do the trick.  

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If you are interested in finding out more and perhaps buying one then here is the website Elaine told me about

http://www.dazer.com/guard-n-eyes.jsp

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I’m so pleased there are other people like me who get involved with bird life in their gardens.  I have put all sorts of makeshift contraptions round birdtables and bird feeders in an attempt to stop larger birds get all the bird food.  I sometimes think I must be mad doing all this.  I’ve put canes round bird tables, covered the ground feeder so that it became a sort of igloo for the birds in all the snow – but I am not mad?! 

Is anyone  else ‘not mad’, but still doing their bit in the garden to help out garden birds.  Let me know

 It is all worth it when I see blue tits, dunnocks, sparrows, chaffinches and other garden birds ‘relaxing’ and ‘feeling at home’ inside these makeshift feeders.

  Below are the notes, ideas and problems about sparrowhawks in the garden.

http://birdtablenews.com/2010/12/a-way-to-keep-sparrowhawks-away/

Trisha, Bird Table News

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I came in last night to find a juvenile sparrowhawk finishing off a collared dove in my back garden. 

Five minutes later, an adult sparrowhawk had reduced my regular tree sparrows to hiding in a thorny bush in the front garden. I have to say that I knocked on the window to scare it away as I felt responsible for the dove’s demise.

Unfortunately, again tonight I saw the feathers remnant of a kill at the front of my house and I discovered another, barely alive pigeon on the ground outside my front gate.  Obviously the subject of another attack.  When I went back out again to see if the pigeon was still there 5 minutes later, it had gone. So in two days, one dove and two pigeons have been killed.

I think I shall have to feed my birds in the morning only as I tend to feed about 7.30am and 4.30 – 5pm every night at the front and back of my garden.  There is an abundance of wood pigeons, collared doves, tree and house sparrows and other varieties of birds. 

I am realising that this is really like the ‘serengeti’ for the sparrowhawks as I have encouraged the birds to come at this time to eat the seeds. I also read that if you put the seed in various feeding places rather then in one area at the front/back garden, this might help and also break the ‘hawks line of sight with bamboo canes etc. whilst allowing the feeding birds a clear line of sight.

I also read on the RSPB that the ‘hawks tend to be later risers so I am just going to feed them in the morning now and discourage them in the late afternoon when they are so preoccupied with feeding and easy targets for the ‘hawks.  I think it must be mother and daughter sparrowhawks as they are taking the larger birds (could be wrong?) and it looked like the mother was teaching the juvenile how to find food, which is why I might have had the two pigeons go simultaneously tonight.

It was a bit eerie though that they have ‘cottoned’ on to the time that I feed the birds.  Probably more that there are just so many birds coming (at least 40 sparrows. 10 pigeons and 8 collared doves).

I will let you know how it goes!

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Thanks K for getting in touch.  What a problem you have.

It shows how useful thorny bushes are for birds.  Planting a hawthorn bush, say , really can save birds lives. 

It sounds like is is a parent teaching a child to hunt.  I see sparrows teaching young sparrows to feed and come to the feeders.  This is how birds survive.   

Birds do get used to food being put out at the same time.  I have a blackbird that chirps loudly in a morning when I appear.  They know seasons,so I suppose they are bound to know time of day. 

You could also camouflaged the  feeding area with various plants and shrubbery so that it would have a hard job getting to the birds.  Or feed birds under bushes

Covered ground feeders are a good way to feed smaller birds.  The one I have is really useful and it’s great seeing sparrows and other smaller birds feeding safely inside the mesh covered feeder.

You could also enclose a birdtable – this may help the smaller birds

The trouble is – how to stop hawks getting the larger birds.  This is more difficult. Maybe the only way is to hide the food or put canes up.  But you can’t put canes up all over the garden!

This begs another question – are there more hawks than there used to be!

Take a look at this website called SONGBIRD SURVIVAL

http://www.songbird-survival.org.uk/

Let me know how you get on

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Hi Trish,
Did you get my desperate email re the Sparrowhawk taking all our swallows out of their nest and roost and also in flight.

I have made holes in all the barn doors so hopefully the hawk will not get in…what size gap could a hawk get through ?

I am still worries he will get through the gaps as the swallows were very reluctant to go through the gaps instead of having an open door which they much prefer..I had to make the gaps bigger than i wanted just to get them to agree to fly in and out of them.

I know hawks are clever and a male sparrow hawk is not that big..he flies into a barn gap that was made years ago for swallows when the garage doors are shut. He was not afraid..I hope the gaps are small enough.

I can ‘t bear the carnage any longer…just too heartbreaking to see the swallows valiant struggle against such a bird…

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This is the first email that was sent to me -

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Last week Loraine ask me about dead sparrows with brains missing.  I did answer her personally.  Now I’m putting some details on Bird Table News -

First here is the article -

 http://birdtablenews.com/2010/06/dead-sparrows-with-brains-missing/

I did not have a clue what could have happened to these birds so I asked for some advice.

 I  have had 3 people get in touch. Here they are –
1. Hi Trisha. This is an interesting question.

Cats or any predatory mammal would normally carry their prey away from the site of capture or kill so as not to draw too much attention to themselves. I doubt very much it is a cat. They normally asphyxiate or shake their victims to death and invariably bite their heads off.

It could be the work of a stoat or weasel. These animals will bite into the skulls of prey to kill them off. It’s the way they dispatch of rabbits or rats.

Sparrowhawks would not peck their victims to death. Their bills are not designed for such a function.
Your killer if it was a bird, could be a magpie or other corvid. I observed recently a magpie coming to my bird feeder and helping itself to a young house sparrow. It grabbed the unfortunate sparrow then proceeded to batter it with its bill,oblivious to the frantic attentions of adult sparrows and other birds which had gathered to see the deadly fracas.
I hope this sheds some light on your inquiry –  from Monahawk

2. the brain has a lot of good stuff in it compared to some other bits of a body.

 A few animals will eat that first (or only) if there is enough other food around. Monahawk’s thoughts all seem like reasonable suggestions.  from  Isurus

3. A number of years ago I had a male Sparrowhawk which on catching its prey would crunch the skull and just eat the brain and leave the rest of it’s prey, the sound of it doing it was terrible.
Chris
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So sparrowhawk,  stoat, weasel, crow, rook or any corvid. Seems like a bird is the most likely answer.
Loraine, Have you found anything out?

reading the answers I feel it could be a sparrowhawk. I think once they find a food supply they stay in the area – this is only a guess.

I hope it hasn’t happened again
Trisha

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I keep finding dead sparrows underneath my birdfeeder.

Each time I notice dead sparrow has the same injury, the back of the skull and the brain is missing .

We have cats around but this is not a typical way a cat eats a bird.

Can you tell me what is going on here? It seems as if maybe a bird is going it. The wound is very precise like a beak pecked at it. Would other sparrows kill other sparrows like this or perhaps another type of bird?

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I have been asked this question by Loraine, but I just do not know the answer. 

I have never heard anything like it.

Please can anyone help?

Loraine, I will ask my knowledgeable friends and see what they say?

Have you had any more dead sparrows?  I hope not.

Trisha

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A while ago I wrote about the time when I saw a

SPARROWHAWK WITH ITS TALONS ROUND A BLACKBIRD

I have had two different opinions and have put them below.  What do you think?  Let me know

Mehr says -

it’s amazing that so many people like birds, but not sparrowhawks!!! they are birds to, and amazing ones, and since i have worked all my life with birds, and studied hawks, I can tell you that they play an importent part in the ecosystem, otherwise they wouldn’t be there.

god/nature created the birds, and also the hawk for a purpose, and we are not the ones to judge or interfere.

i can asure you it is a highly natural and expected death for the samll birds to die by a hawk, but to get hit by a car, shot, poisoned or overfedd to death is a humilating one.

what you did, trying to scare the hawk away is not nice, how can you want to save one and kill the other?? respect and love nature, as a entire system, not just the part that is cute and accpetable for your personal gain in feelings….

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A reply from Shell to the same article -

I just wish life was fairer on the smaller birds. Now, if it was a cat prowling around and attacking a Sparrowhawk are you saying we should just let nature take its course? It’s natural for cats to hunt birds and other small animals as they are also natural born hunters but it isn’t nice to see anything being killed.

A Sparrowhawk hunts to survive but when it visits someone’s garden and feeds off the birds time and again, day in day out how can that make a bird lover feel? How many birds does a SH eat in a day? If they eat several then that’s several garden birds down, over a space of a week we are probably talking in our tens or even twenties, or more.

I have seen other animals attacked by big birds and then left half eaten, even if that.

I heard a SH kill a Starling and it was the most horrendous sound, the frightening cries of the Starling and its desperation to get away so you can’t blame people feeling sad about losing smaller birds.

We have also had a Buzzard visit and it was by no means as persistent as the SH. I think the Buzzard might have took over the territory of the SH because it has not been here for a while. The Buzzard did not stop by and goes hunting elsewhere.

 just read a news article about 75 Starlings crash landing and they assumed the birds had been chased by a predator like a Sparrowhawk.

I posted a comment earlier but it has disappeared

Shell

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My reply -

Songbirds are declining in number.  Sparrowhawks are rising in number.  Sparrowhawks do not have any natural predators.  Songbirds have a lot of natural predators.  I agree nature created birds and hawks – but in any situation it is bad to have an inbalance – too many predators to too few prey.

I have heard so many first hand experiences of sparrowhawks decimating hedges with birds in and attacking any birds that landed on bird tables – causing blood to be all over the bird table.

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Do you have any opinions or thoughts on this?

 

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A skull and part of the skeleton of a dinosaur has been found at the site of a prehistoric forest in north East China.

The dinosaur had teeth that are like teeth of rear-fanged snakes and venomous lizards. 

Some of the fang like teech which are on the upper jaw had grooves that scientists think poison ‘flowed’ through. 

So this dinosaur may killed its prey by poisoning it. 

The dinosaur that was found is a feathered raptor. 

It was about the size of a turkey and 128 million years ago it preyed on birds using its fangs.

A bird with a bite that delivers poison.  I wonder why it died out.

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At Yorkshire Water’s Top Hill Low nature reserve there has been a display of Sparrowhawk’s new way of hunting.

Tophill Low Warden, Richard Hampshire said ‘ The behavour we have been observing at the reserve shows this species is no bird brain, observing and learning how its prey escapes before using this knowledge to its advantage to help it secure some very easy catches.’

98% of a sparrowhawks diet is made up of other birds.

It is believed that this new way of hunting shows sparrowhawks are highly intelligent birds and can learn the behavour of their prey and use this to give them  an advantage so they can catch more birds.

These sparrowhawks at the Nature Reserve have learned how to get other birds to knock themselves out!

They do this by forcing their prey to fly headlong into the glazed window of a feeding station!

Well I never!

Staff at this reserve have now put silhouettes of falcons on the windows.  This is to try to keep the smaller birds that are fleeing from the sparrowhawk away from the window.

Now that sort of hunting takes thought and brains.  Who would have thought it of a Sparrowhawk.

I seem to remember that on Autumnwatch  there was a sparrowhawk shown drowning a Magpie!  The sparrowhawk pushed the Magpie under the water.  Killing the magpie this way would be less dangerous to the sparrowhak.

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Take a look at this video of a sparrowhawk in our garden

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