Hi,
I am a new forum member jumping in a bit here but I need some advice.
Yesterday afternoon we found 2 dead birds (a Spotted turtle dove and I think a Little Shrike Thrush) in our yard. They both had crops FULL of bought bird seed. I am worried they may have been deliberately POISONED.
Has anyone any ideas/has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
It did occur to me that 2 birds chasing one another might have smashed into the house and both broken their necks??? but it does seem rather unlikely...and I have definitely never seen these two species chasing each other before. The possiblility of a cat killing and leaving two birds in my yard came up, BUT we have 2 dogs in the yard so that is also extremely unlikely.
Any thoughts anyone?
Denise.
If it was cat or dog there'd be noticeable injuries/puncture marks if you take a close look.
If you have a friendly local vet they may be happy to do an autoposy for you, or ask your local wildlife organisation to do that as they would be interested if the circumstances are suspicious.
*autopsy that is!
Hi, Sorry I didn't thank you for replying earlier. I had frozen the birds thinking we might try and have an autopsy done but they were accidentally thrown out with the rubbish :(
I heard that one neighbour had recently put seeds out to feed the birds and wondered if eating bought seed alone could kill native birds? Unfortunately, as I was watering my garden this morning, I found a THIRD dead bird in my pond!
I am very, very worried. As to your query as to weather there were teeth marks etc on the birds..no, there were no discernable marks at all ECXEPT one of the first birds we found had it's head removed. Quite a clean cut. I am frightened that there could be some human intervention here???
I really don't know what to do?
When I started finding neatly decapitated rabbits I suspected evil rituals - but it turned out to be the neighbour's cat.
Eating the seeds could have made them an easy target for a cat on the prowl.
I thought that too Marj but we have 2 dogs in our yard, one who makes sure no cats come near. Also the first two birds turning up at the same time in the same spot with no claw marks or bite marks on them.
I have called EPA this morning and they have suggested that it is possible that a dog wash or fruit tree spray that is quite common could be poisoning them. Especially if someone putting bird seed out also has a dog. Apparently just patting the dog and then handling the bird seed can kill birds! Something that I certainly never knew!
Defintiely get an autopsy done if you find another bird. And then let National Parks & Wildlife know. If someone is poisoning birds deliberately (and yes it does happen, particularly to noisy birds like cockatoos but others can become victims too), they will investigate.
I think the fact they are all ending up dead in your yard would not point to a fruit tree spray.. that kind of stuff doesnt normally kill instantly but rather builds up as poison over time in the body.
I can't see a cat just taking the head off and leaving the rest of the bird.. possibly rats though (but wouldnt really be a clean cut).
Lots of possiblities and really an autopsy is going to be the only way to start getting answers.
I am checking my yard morning and night now for more birds and asking all my neighbours...(except one, whom we have had ongoing problems with)...I haven't yet found any more birds which is great, no neighbours have found any either, so it's looking increasingly like the troublemaker neighbour might be responsible, as for the evil ritual thing, that is a possibility because there seems to be an element of insanity there. Not nice. There are very few fruit trees grown in this area as we are in a forested region on the edge of a national park, but I will still ask around. I am trying not to be paranoid but have bought another house and we are moving in a few weeks. The fact that I even consider that this neighbour could do something like that is enough.
The new house we are moving to has beautiful rainforest/forest on 6 acres and I have seen new birds out there already, can't wait to move out there to try to record them all :)
you might have a new cat in your neighborhood who is a skilled bird hunter but who doesnt know how to eat them. I had four cats but one recently died. One is a skilled mouser who only eats the heads, one catches rats and beheads them, one, who is now dead, used to catch pideons and minahs and eat all of them, but only eat the heads of mice and rats and my youngest cat doesnt eat the mice and birds she catches at all but she does eat the insects she catches
The one who used to eat the whole bird would only leave a few wing feathers behind
in my book the ones catching birds are doing us a favor because they are only catching the pest ones. we see other species here but they dont land in our trees, Maybe they are just too smart compared to pigeons and doves and minahs :)
I hope its not a poisoner but if it was you would probably find a lot of dead birds around not just two or three