My son and I were cutting up some timber when a Grey Butcherbird and a Fantailed Cuckoo both fell to the ground. The butcherbird had the cuckoo in it's claws. Another Butcherbird landed next to them on the ground.
The Butcherbird that had the cuckoo stabbed it through the heart with it's closed beak. We ran over to them (about 10 feet away) to have a look. The Butcherbirds flew away but the cuckoo was dead. This whole episode only took about 10 seconnds.
The photo is small as it's from a mob. phone.
Talk about the quick and the dead!!!
cheers
poor butcherbird missed its meal
Peter
Goodness me! What an amazing experience to watch. That is a big bird for a butcherbird to be attacking!
I edited your title just to highlight the content that is in here as per a discussion in the announcements section. Its fine to post it but the content might be too confronting for some people (including kids).
Interesting, I have not seen a butcherbird take a bird that size.
Hi Peter,
I thought that the Butcherbirds might have killed it for being a cuckoo. Most birds seem to chase them away but I haven't ever seen any actually catch them, apart from this incident.
At the moment we have Currawongs and Crows chasing the Channel-billed Cuckoos around. Same goes for the Koels being chased by the Noisy Friarbirds and Little Wattlebirds
Must have picked the wrong nest to cuckoo.