3 dead birds, minus heads...

Nwm2

Spotted a dead adult bird the other day, lying on my tarmac. Spotted 2 more this evening at the other side of the house, also left on the tarmac.

All medium size adult birds, all headless. Haven't seen this before. We live out in the country.

Suspects?

swifts need our help!

no photos? Can only be cats I think

Bonedigger

Yeah,my guess is cats too.My next door neighbour's cat left just the head of a female blackbird in their driveway several weeks ago!

Ulmus

I came across a dead, young swift on the side of the road. A patch of feathers had been torn from its back. Could it have been killed by a sparrowhawk or even a magpie?
Or it could have fallen from a nest and unable to take flight was killed by a cat and dropped on the road?
( Not a fledgling, it had completely brown plumage with a white throat, so more like an adult).

Bonedigger

Ulmus wrote: »

I came across a dead, young swift on the side of the road. A patch of feathers had been torn from its back. Could it have been killed by a sparrowhawk or even a magpie?
Or it could have fallen from a nest and unable to take flight was killed by a cat and dropped on the road?
( Not a fledgling, it had completely brown plumage with a white throat, so more like an adult).

Hit by a car perhaps?

elaney

Mink or foxes will take the heads off birds . We lost ducks this way.

tisgrand

Most likely cats...it is typical of how they kill and being well fed by human slaves, also typical of how they leave their victims uneaten. My cats are mostly indoors this summer as they were overly keen on nesting birds this year. I wish other owners would do likewise

SpaceTime

That doesn't sound like a cat to be perfectly honest. Not wanting to be gruesome, but that isn't how felines kill their prey.

Cats hunt with their claws, not their mouth. They will only use their mouth to deliver a fatal blow or use their back paws to deliver a fatal blow / basically disembowel their prey. That cute rolling up into a ball and flicking your shoe with their back paws isn't all about looking cuddling, it's a cute killer move!

Sounds more like a fox, mink or bird of prey. If it were a cat, you'd be more likely to find bits of prey all over the place, or just the head / bones.

Domestic cats don't really have very powerful jaws, they're pretty fast and lethal with their claws though!

Rabbo

Textbook cat. Our cat has left countless headless birds , mice, baby rabbits, bats , etc outside our door.
Don't know why he chooses to just eat the head, but who am I to judge his sadistic feline instincts?

my3cents

Saw the same thing but just one birds body and one head on the road about 3 weeks ago. I thought it was a peregrine's meal he'd left when I turned up with a couple of dogs. The prey was an adult black bird and the head could have been taken off with a guillotine it was such a clean cut. Was weird as the head was just sitting on the tarmack looking at me with the body about a foot away.

Could always have been a car but none would have been doing any speed on a right angled turn on a country road with a drop to one side? We do/did get peregrines in the area when the pigeon racing guys haven't poisoned them all.

SpaceTime

Rabbo wrote: »

Textbook cat. Our cat has left countless headless birds , mice, baby rabbits, bats , etc outside our door.
Don't know why he chooses to just eat the head, but who am I to judge his sadistic feline instincts?

Our cat would tend to eat the whole body then leave the head or, throw it up.

As for their 'sadistic feline instincts' ... Far less sadists than humans out hunting birds for the laugh with a shot gun! At least the cat usually eats them.

my3cents

SpaceTime wrote: »

Our cat would tend to eat the whole body then leave the head or, throw it up.

As for their 'sadistic feline instincts' ... Far less sadists than humans out hunting birds for the laugh with a shot gun! At least the cat usually eats them.

with rabbits they start on the back end while they are still alive and just leave floppsy's head and the fluffy bit of the tail.

SpaceTime

my3cents wrote: »

with rabbits they start on the back end while they are still alive and just leave floppsy's head and the fluffy bit of the tail.

Well, they're carnivores - that's what they do.
Dogs hunt pretty viciously too and will rip prey to bits. Humans aren't exactly all hugs and cuddles when hunting or farming animals either.

Evolution produced a fairly cruel world where everything's snacking on everything else.

I wouldn't really describe it as 'sadistic' though. It's just how *all* carnivores operate.

Tiercel Dave

As for their 'sadistic feline instincts' ... Far less sadists than humans out hunting birds for the laugh with a shot gun! At least the cat usually eats them.[/QUOTE]

Is it 'legal' for a cat to kill birds? I have to get a 'Game Licence' to go hunting with my shotgun! Hahaha Dave

Bonedigger

Tiercel Dave wrote: »

As for their 'sadistic feline instincts' ... Far less sadists than humans out hunting birds for the laugh with a shot gun! At least the cat usually eats them.

Is it 'legal' for a cat to kill birds? I have to get a 'Game Licence' to go hunting with my shotgun! Hahaha Dave[/QUOTE]

Those who brandish guns don't like cats really!I was only made aware recently that cats too are fair game.

tisgrand

SpaceTime wrote: »

That doesn't sound like a cat to be perfectly honest. Not wanting to be gruesome, but that isn't how felines kill their prey.

Cats hunt with their claws, not their mouth. They will only use their mouth to deliver a fatal blow or use their back paws to deliver a fatal blow / basically disembowel their prey. That cute rolling up into a ball and flicking your shoe with their back paws isn't all about looking cuddling, it's a cute killer move!

Sounds more like a fox, mink or bird of prey. If it were a cat, you'd be more likely to find bits of prey all over the place, or just the head / bones.

Domestic cats don't really have very powerful jaws, they're pretty fast and lethal with their claws though!

I'm afraid this is wholly inaccurate. Large cats such as lions and tigers kill large prey by suffocation...clamping nose and mouth or throat. Smaller species kill by biting the head or neck much as mustelids do. In all my years ive never seen or heard of a cat disembowelling prey nor of foxes extremely adept at catching passerine birds then only to waste them. Cats have powerful jaws well capable of chewing a birds head off...theyre not made of concrete. It doesn't make them evil or sadistic of course, but as responsible owners keeping a non native predator in unnatural concentrations, it is up to we cat owners to limit their destructive habits rather than live in denial. And as for birds of prey...definitely not how they operate

Murray007

Cats, both our cats do it with birds, when they can catch them, and more frequently mice. They eat the head only and only after they have called us to the back door to take a look at their catch.

tisgrand

Rabbo wrote: »

Textbook cat. Our cat has left countless headless birds , mice, baby rabbits, bats , etc outside our door.
Don't know why he chooses to just eat the head, but who am I to judge his sadistic feline instincts?

the brain is especially nutritious and so the head will be eaten first or may be the only part eaten by a well fed pet

dodderangler

Bonedigger wrote: »

Is it 'legal' for a cat to kill birds? I have to get a 'Game Licence' to go hunting with my shotgun! Hahaha Dave

Those who brandish guns don't like cats really!I was only made aware recently that cats too are fair game.[/quote]

Touchy subject on the cats and guns there

Well for one thing you can cross off birds of prey. Not how bops operate.
I'd cross off mink aswell as usually just get the brains off a head there and then and leave it attached.
My money is on a cat but may throw a few quid on fox aswell.
Or some psycho kid cutting heads off birds.

Bonedigger

The very top quote in dodderangler's post above misattributes the quote to me!Where it says "Originally posted by Bonedigger - Is it 'legal' for a cat to kill................"
What's going on there Mods.?I just want to add that I don't use nor ever have used guns to kill anything.I'm not a murderer!!:)

dodderangler

Bonedigger wrote: »

The very top quote in dodderangler's post above misattributes the quote to me!Where it says "Originally posted by Bonedigger - Is it 'legal' for a cat to kill................"
What's going on there Mods.?I just want to add that I don't use nor ever have used guns to kill anything.I'm not a murderer!!:)

So I'm a murderer because I hunt?

Kess73

Mod Post: Folks, a few jokes here and there are fine, but do not turn this thread into some pointless back and forth.

Kess73

And back to the topic of the thread.


Would imagine that a cat or a number of cats are the most likely answer.


Have seen it done in both the city and county, and if there are a number of birds being left (especially birds up to about the size of a feral pigeon) over a short period of time, then I would be ruling out pretty much all the other options.


Would even go as far as to say, based on personal experience, that a pet cat is more likely to be doing it than a stray or feral.

Obliq

tisgrand wrote: »

the brain is especially nutritious and so the head will be eaten first or may be the only part eaten by a well fed pet

One of my cats is the area ratter. This time of year, never a week goes by when there isn't a massive dead rat on the doorstep with just the brain eaten! I was considering changing his name to zombie till now - didn't realise it was because it was so nutritious, I thought he was just peculiar! He always looks at me funny when I chuck it over the ditch instead of bringing it in and putting it in the frying pan (where all the other nice smells come from).