Dead baby birds....

[conuly]

A few days ago, I'm going to the store when I see a dead baby bird on the sidewalk. I don't know anything about baby birds, but this had to have been just hatched - or not even. No feathers, and the eyes looked shut. Not that I got too close.

I looked up, but I couldn't see a nest or anything. Couldn't hear a nest either, though that's not surprising. Eventually, I went on my way.

Today, around that same area, I find a dead baby bird. This one looked like it might have been a bit older - slightly. It couldn't've been the same one, anyway, because there's no way this dead baby bird was sitting on the ground in the street for several days. No trees nearby. No houses with overhanging eaves. What is going on here? Where did that bird come from?

I'm starting to get a little concerned. If it were that a cat or another bird had killed them, they'd be mauled, right? Eaten a bit? But the only thing eating the second bird was the ants, and nothing looked like it'd been on the first at all.

Comments

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

It sounds like what Rachel Carson described in Silent Spring, to a much lesser degree.

[sicpuppy.livejournal.com]

My cat is a major killer of birds and when he was younger, he would maim them and you'd find bloody corpses strewn across the garden. Now, however, he simply decapitates them. No other injuries at all, just missing a head, and he'll do it to mice too. BUT recently, he's been bringing back birds which are obviously fledglings and not even drawing blood on them, just bringing them to the garden dead. There was a dead one in the garden yesterday which looked unharmed save for the fact that it was......well......dead. I think pet cats are less likely to maim a dead bird than a wild or feral cat. Maybe it was another bird? Magpies and crows will happily attack baby birds.
I guess maybe there could have been a nest but it was hidden well, theres a few in our garden and you'd never even know they're there until you see the mother or father fly in or out.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we've had birds nest in the outlet pipe for our extractor fan on more than one occasion. And this is living in (the equivalent of) suburbia.

[pehanoie.livejournal.com]

What a weird coinsedence. Near the book store, I saw a dead baby bird as well- squished. And in my school entranceway is a squished frog- I mean you can see the bones on it. What's going on?

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Do you have cuckoos around there? Because cuckoo nestlings will deliberately push the sibling-hatchlings out of the nest (read up on their parasitic nesting habits, it's fascinating).

[conuly]

Question. Do murdered hatchlings wander several yards from their nest before dying?

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Dunno. (Logically, it might depend on the age of the hatchlings.)

[appadil.livejournal.com]

Some species of birds will do the same to their own biological siblings as well, if there are more offspring than the parents are capable of caring for. The largest and strongest will push the weaker ones out of the nest so they stop competing for scarce resources...

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

It sounds like what Rachel Carson described in Silent Spring, to a much lesser degree.

[sicpuppy.livejournal.com]

My cat is a major killer of birds and when he was younger, he would maim them and you'd find bloody corpses strewn across the garden. Now, however, he simply decapitates them. No other injuries at all, just missing a head, and he'll do it to mice too. BUT recently, he's been bringing back birds which are obviously fledglings and not even drawing blood on them, just bringing them to the garden dead. There was a dead one in the garden yesterday which looked unharmed save for the fact that it was......well......dead. I think pet cats are less likely to maim a dead bird than a wild or feral cat. Maybe it was another bird? Magpies and crows will happily attack baby birds.
I guess maybe there could have been a nest but it was hidden well, theres a few in our garden and you'd never even know they're there until you see the mother or father fly in or out.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we've had birds nest in the outlet pipe for our extractor fan on more than one occasion. And this is living in (the equivalent of) suburbia.

[pehanoie.livejournal.com]

What a weird coinsedence. Near the book store, I saw a dead baby bird as well- squished. And in my school entranceway is a squished frog- I mean you can see the bones on it. What's going on?

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Do you have cuckoos around there? Because cuckoo nestlings will deliberately push the sibling-hatchlings out of the nest (read up on their parasitic nesting habits, it's fascinating).

[conuly]

Question. Do murdered hatchlings wander several yards from their nest before dying?

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Dunno. (Logically, it might depend on the age of the hatchlings.)

[appadil.livejournal.com]

Some species of birds will do the same to their own biological siblings as well, if there are more offspring than the parents are capable of caring for. The largest and strongest will push the weaker ones out of the nest so they stop competing for scarce resources...