I found a crimson rosella on my first floor balcony dead and gutted this morning. The possibility of it being a cat is practically nil as it would have to have somehow have got on the third floor roof and slide down steep corrugated roofing to get to the balcony and definitely not a dog. We live in an outer metro area with lots of bush around and we have many owls and also have whistling kites nearby.
Is it possible that one of these birds killed it on the balcony and just removed the contents of the chest and stomach?
And, would an owl find a rosella at night?
Hope someone has a clue for me.
Thanks.
HI Misty
Yes, an owl could well have been the culprit, but I am a bit stumped as to why it left the best parts. Most owls would not eat the guts as far as I am aware, but the best bits, which are the breast meat and other fine cuts. An owl can easily take a sleeping bird at night, and many will, especially the larger species such as Barking Owl, Powerful Owl, Masked Owl, Eastern Barn Owl, even a Southern Boobook (though they are the smallest of Aussie owls). However, perhaps with the exception of the Barking Owl that seems to eat a lot of birds, the others usually eat far more mammals (except the Boobook, which eats insects, mice and small birds in that order of preference).
Another scenario I can think of is that the owl could have opened the stomach cavity to empty it and somehow dropped the bird in flight then was too spooked to get it from your balcony.
I think it needs an avian CSI team to investigate, and while I am on the subject I will verify about them eating or not eating the entrails of prey. (owls that is)
Would you mind saying what city/suburb you're in? Thanks. MAy narrow down possible culprits.
Thanks for your responses, I don't think the bird was dropped as the feathers were right next to it that had been pulled out and yes the chest cavity was exposed as we could see the chest bone.
I live in the Southern Highlands if that helps narrow it down to culprits.
Depending on exactly what time of the morning you found it; it could well have been a Collared Sparrowhawk or Brown Goshawk as well at first light before you realized the bird was lying there. Then the hawk may have quickly disappeared at the slightest hint of a disturbance. :)
Thanks Windhover, I guess it could have been one of them, I won't ever know. We only discovered it at around 8am. Wished I had seen which one it was as that in itself would have been a treat.
I recently put a rat trap in my shed, the next morning it had a rat in it. The rat had had it's guts eaten, nothing else just it's guts. I reset the trap and next morning it had another rat in it but this time it was intact.
Useing my powers of deduction I decided it was the second rat that had eaten the guts of the first rat. A rat can easily take a roosting bird at night.
Ray
I asked that question before, but does anyone have an idea,what animal kills, and eats" my" Rosellas? I asked you, Windhover, about the droppings left next to my piles of Rosella feathers. Most people I asked say they are fox droppings. The question still remains, would a fox,leave a pile of feathers? All that remains of the Rosellas, is a pile of feathers, NOTHING else. I'm baffled! We find that quite often. We do have many kinds of Owls. Any idea, what animal would kill like that? I have been looking for answers for some time, please anyone with any ideas??
M-L
I think Ray could be right about the rat. Our balcony is on the 1st floor with no access from the ground but I guess a rat could climb up the posts from the ground up. We do see quite often birds killed on the ground level but we don't normally see the carcass, just feathers indicitive of a kill. The carcass I guess gets taken off into the bush. We have many cats and foxes (and possums on the balcony???) as well as a healthy owl population. We also have the Kites which have nested in the adjoining bush so we are still no closer to knowing WHO DID IT!
Misty
Araminta. That is exactly the way a fox kills. If a fox gets into a hen house it will kill as many hens as it can and leave feathers and carcasses all over the place. If a fox only kills one bird, it will eat everything except the feathers.
Ray
Thanks Ray, problem solved! We find that poo close to the feathers most of the time. So, that lets the neighbour's cats off the hook? (but just for this killing!)
M-L
My thought would be why a rat would kill a bird, then take it to a balcony to eat the guts? Perhaps to enjoy the view is about as good as I could deduce from the given information. :)