INTERESTING FIND ON THE RIVER

Eddie B

Was checking out a new stretch or river yesterday for the mink traps when i came across this bird lying on a muddy patch on the river bank!





Might be hard see from the photo but the bird had a couple of puncture wounds in its neck and there were lots of mink and otter tracks around the carcase! Now i know that mink are well capable of taking birds from pens but what about birds in the wild? Could this have been a perfectly healthy bird, or maybe a shot bird that wasn't picked up and found by mink or even otter! Just interested to hear what yer thoughts are on the matter and how much preasure you think mink put on wild or released birds?

Birdnuts

I would imagine that if a pheasant is sheltering from wind/rain in dense riverside/ditch vegetation, a mink could easily sneak up on it. I disturbed a mink once dragging a drake mallard into cover on the lake here in Blessington so its entirely possible IMO.

Larry60

You could try plucking it to see if it was perhaps wounded by shot or had another injury that made it easy prey.
Where I live mink are more of a problem for the waterfowl but I would not put taking pheasants past them.

mike91

I found half a badger last week.. The dog was rolling in it....

hedzball

mike91 wrote: »

I found half a badger last week.. The dog was rolling in it....

mike91 wrote: »

I found half a badger last week.. The dog was rolling in it....

mike91 wrote: »

I found half a badger last week.. The dog was rolling in it....

mike91 wrote: »

I found half a badger last week.. The dog was rolling in it....

is that two badgers and 4 dogs??

mike91

Phone must have done it! Haha

sniperviper

I had 4 pheasants killed in the same way, found them along a river bank all had puncture wounds around there necks and back of there necks, i suspected a mink but never had any luck trapping it,i'm sure iv'e lost a few more to mink but i just never found them. They where all pen reared birds that had been released 4 weeks in advance so they weren't wild was this a wild pheasant or could it have been released?. wild birds would be far harder for a mink to catch id imagine.

Eddie B

Larry60 wrote: »

You could try plucking it to see if it was perhaps wounded by shot or had another injury that made it easy prey.
Where I live mink are more of a problem for the waterfowl but I would not put taking pheasants past them.

I should have plucked it out of interest but i did check it over with no signs of damage around the wings or legs! Not to say there could have been grains in the body mind!

Eddie B

sniperviper wrote: »

I had 4 pheasants killed in the same way, found them along a river bank all had puncture wounds around there necks and back of there necks, i suspected a mink but never had any luck trapping it,i'm sure iv'e lost a few more to mink but i just never found them. They where all pen reared birds that had been released 4 weeks in advance so they weren't wild was this a wild pheasant or could it have been released?. wild birds would be far harder for a mink to catch id imagine.

Well clubs usually tag releast birds and no sign of that but i did notice a short tail so its posible it could have been releast;! Saying that, its very wild and rough country with a lot of wild birds and very little shooting!