I was wondering how birds of prey kill their victims. The reason I ask is that my boss at work described hearing a squawking in his garden. After a while he went out to discover a bird of prey (Small bird, grey on top, pale underneath. Peregrine? He's not a birder.) on top of a nearly full grown Starling chick. The parent was dive bombing the predator to no avail. Anyway, the bird of prey was grasping the still alive victim in its claws, and plucking it with its beak. That set me wondering as to how the bird would finish off the victim. Suffocation? Gradual blood loss? Cutting the throat open? It did surprise me that the victim was being plucked alive.
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Birds of prey and killing methods (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Leif
- Start date
Michael Frankis
conehead
Hi Leif,
Classic Sparrowhawk behaviour there. They kill their prey by 'trampling' them with their sharp claws and dismembering with their bill at the same time (though often not the latter, if the prey is in a position to fight back at all, by pecking at the hawk's vulnerable eyes).
Peregrines are very different, they kill by high speed impact in a stoop, using their highly flexible hind claw to deliver the blow.
Michael
Classic Sparrowhawk behaviour there. They kill their prey by 'trampling' them with their sharp claws and dismembering with their bill at the same time (though often not the latter, if the prey is in a position to fight back at all, by pecking at the hawk's vulnerable eyes).
Peregrines are very different, they kill by high speed impact in a stoop, using their highly flexible hind claw to deliver the blow.
Michael
Mickymouse
Ubuntu Linux user
Michael Frankis said:
You have just put me off Sparrowhawks!!!!
Mick
Michael Frankis
conehead
You won't want to see film footage of African Wild Dogs bringing down their prey . . .Mickymouse said:
Michael
Mickymouse
Ubuntu Linux user
Michael Frankis said:
I will take your word on that but please don't tell me anything nasty about House Sparrows I don't want to have to go off them too. LOL
Mick
malskelton
Enthusiastic Amateur
Michael Frankis said:
My parents often get Sparrowhawks in their garden - which I love watching.
The most obscure killing I saw was when it captured a small bird and proceeded to drown it in the bird bath before jumping onto the lawn to eat it.
Never seen anything like it
Mal Skelton
Nightranger
Senior Moment
I won't go into detail over how sparrowhawks kill but it is often not a quick process. However, they are capable of killing a victim by stabbing with the talons if they have the right kind of grip. In an enclosed space such as a garden, the hawks probably have not enough room to manoeuvre and obtaining a good hold is far from easy. Peregrines do not kill with their talons BTW, they actually kill by severing the neck vertebrae with the beak 'tooth. Only falcons have this adaptation (see the recent Attenborough programme on peregrines) hence why sparrowhawks are generally less efficient in killing. Certainly a good hit in the stoop will often stun a pigeon, but this is unlikely to kill the bird. In fact, there is no way a peregrine can avoid injury to itself if it were to hit a pigeon hard enough to kill it. The 'bite' to the neck is very quick and this would sometimes appear that the pigeon had been killed in the initial hit.
Nightranger
Senior Moment
Rhion said:
Ooh your are so insensitive (LOL) I was trying to avoid talking about that aspect. Unfortunately, the talon power would only ber effective for relatively small prey such as bird up to the size of a starling for the male hawks but up to blackbird (at a pinch, collared dove) size with the female. As I said, the ability to kill quickly in sparrowhawks is determined by how well they catch the victim. Interestingly, Ian Newton documents around six different hunting techniques in sparrowhawks from the perch and swoop ambush in young birds, to stooping (reminiscent of a falcon), to the cruise missile approaches that are familiar in the adult birds. I cannot remember what the other methods are but sparrowhawks have probably a greater variety of techniques than any other European raptor. Our American friends will appreciate this in comparison with the multiple techniques employed by the Harris hawk.
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i came across a spa feasting on a wood pigeon, the pigeon being still alive and yet half eaten. not a pretty site. i hid, hoping the spa would come back and finish its meal but, unfortunately, after half hour or so, it didn't show. put the pigeon out of its misery though.
mamo
mamo
Anthony Morton
Well-known member
mamo said:
Hi mamo,
What you have described is EXACTLY what pigeon fanciers find so abhorrent about the Sparrowhawk - its nasty habit of starting to eat larger prey items while they are still very much alive. So if anyone is tempted to spring to the defence of the 'poor' Sparrowhawk, just think for once of the slow, agonising death that its prey suffers as it is dismembered piece by bloody piece over an agonising 30 minutes or more. Sadly there isn't always someone on hand to put the prey out of its misery as you did!
Andrew Rowlands
Well-known member
Yes Anthony, quite different to the method used by pigeon 'fanciers' when despatching smaller 'prey' items; usually they wring their necks, drop them into a bucket, then leave the cot......
Andy.
Andy.
i think the difference here is that the spa is a WILD bird doing what comes natural. pigeon fanciers, on the other hand, play with their pigeons 'til their hearts content and whoa betide any nasty WILD animal that feels a bit hungry!! as you can probably tell, i have no sympathy whatsoever with pigeon fanciers
mamo
mamo
Michael Frankis
conehead
...... and then dump them all in a heap on the edge of a school playng field so the children can enjoy the sight and smell (yes, I've seen this happen)Andrew Rowlands said:
Michael
Anthony Morton
Well-known member
Michael Frankis said:
Get a life Michael, PLEASE. You are as predictable as a pike in a tankful of goldfish with your 'witty' repartee and anecdotal clap-trap, in that you feel obliged to take a 'bite' out of anything that passes before you. But beware, sometimes the biter gets bitten!
Why not try reading what I actually said and not what you would have liked me to say. I referred specifically to LARGER PREY ITEMS which in my book includes such things as jackdaws, magpies, woodpigeons, woodpeckers, collared doves, rock doves, woodcock, etc., etc., etc. - oh yes, and not forgetting the magnificent racing pigeon of course!
In my book anyone who can stand by and witness this kind of butchery and not get sick to the stomach must be sick in the head.
Anthony Morton
Well-known member
Andrew Rowlands said:
Andy,
I'm not sure what smaller 'prey' items you are referring to here. Anyway, surely you have answered your own point in that in the unlikely even that a bird's neck has to be wrung, it certainly doesn't take half an hour in which to suffer a lingering blood-stained death - it's instantaneous!
Nightranger
Senior Moment
Michael Frankis said:
I have had some interesting information directly from the RPRA (thanks Anthony) and I am sure this type of behaviour would be frowned upon. If anyone witnesses anything like this, then the RPRA would probaly wish to know, especially if the rings are still present. However, is it possible that the birds had been ferals that had been shot illegally and dumped? It would be difficult to prove a Wildlife or Cruelty offence but I am certain there would be a Public Health problem here.
I have have nothing against racing, it is just the uninformed opinions about raptor predation that annoy me (cue: Anthony...LOL).
Anthony Morton
Well-known member
mamo said:
That's not in the least bit surprising, since you clearly have no knowledge of racing pigeons and/or pigeon racing whatsoever. All you are doing is repeating the same tired old rhetoric dished out by people who really should know better. Don't expect to come out with this sort of rubbish unless you want to be challenged on it. Call yourself a bird lover? I don't think so!
Anthony Morton
Well-known member
Ian Peters said:
Hi Ian,
Hooray - at last the sweet voice of reason without the rhetoric!
My only comment is to add that the RPRA would certainly like to know rather that probably like to know. We are governed by very strict rules indeed and action would undoubtedly be taken against anyone behaving in such a stupid manner.
And I couldn't agree more with you final comment, although I might have said that it's uninformed opinions about racing pigeons that get up my proboscis!
Regards,
Anthony
