Bereavement

JohnC6

JohnC6

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I looked out of the kitchen window this afternoon and wondered why a feral pigeon was lying still on a pond cascade. It wasn't there an hour or so earlier. Standing next to it was ,obviously, its mate. My wife and I decided that rather than remove it we'd allow the other one to kind of mourn for a while. A hour or so it stayed there. I then removed the dead one.It wasn't old. I could see what looked like a small 'hole' on the side of its neck... its shoulder, so to speak. Had it been attacked by a sparrow hawk and escaped and gone to where it knew there was water ? Oddly enough its the second one I've found dead in three days. The other was a wood pigeon and was on the soil between the greenhouse and a large Robin shrub ...just a few inches gap. A strange place to be. I didn't see any marks on it. It looked to have been in good condition, too.

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Eyes Closed.
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I saw the same behaviour with a starling which was killed by a magpie in our garden.
 
Maybe bird flu , it’s affecting the gull population up here badly . I know of two rspb sites in north wales that have recently reported a problem
 
the black fox said:
Maybe bird flu , it’s affecting the gull population up here badly . I know of two rspb sites in north wales that have recently reported a problem
Click to expand...
It's hit the Gull population on the island at the local Marina and over a hundred have been removed.
 
the black fox said:
Maybe bird flu , it’s affecting the gull population up here badly . I know of two rspb sites in north wales that have recently reported a problem
Click to expand...

Good point,Jeff. That very small hole on the feral pigeon's neck was a bit suspect,though re an attack but maybe bird 'flu got the wood pigeon. Having said that there are about five or six regular ferals that come into the garden along with two all-white ones. The cascades attract them for a wash & brush and there's a bird bath which I keep clean and kept topped up with fresh water. There's one distinctly-marked ferall that flies onto the patio table outside the kithchen window staring in hoping to catch my eye. When I go out with some crunched up fat ball and seed it makes a low noise cooing noise. Obviously pleased.:)
 
Sad story :(
Avian Flu is a terrible thing.
Quite a few of our Gannets have solid black eyes which is an indication that they have either had it and survived or suffering from it.
The ones I have seen have looked quite healthy and are not blind.
I believe the Farne Islands have been closed to visitors due to AF

Bird 10 by Mike Stephen, on Flickr
 
I can't recall which thread in the 'Bird' section where someone posted that a whole area where they live is out of bounds to the public. Infact, as you mention, I think it might well have been the Farne Islands so someone from up that way. It's so sad to see them suffering and those lying around dead.
 
The Total lack of small birds is quite frightening ,it’s really noticeable up here .anyone that Does Bird photography or twitching must be noticing it now .. a lot of the time I just don’t bother as it’s quiet pointless chasing ghosts
 
There was a flock of about 15 starlings on the back lawn a few weeks ago. Today, I counted 27. Quite a few juveniles amongst them. Also, there are two Goldfinches,two blackbirds and two robins plus rthe half-dozen feral pigeons. Very tame birds,they are. One has a blue leg ring. It's more than we've had before.
 
I raise pigeon's here. My understanding is the mate for life! But the one living will move on from the one that died and end up with another mate, so I'd been told! I do lose them to birds of prey now and then. 34yrs here and have had one owl and two hawks inside my loft's. Probably lose a few to preditor birds when flying them. Cat's are a bigger problem than hawks and owls here. Lost 80 some birds a couple years ago to the cats and had to start over. Next door neighbor saw a hawk try for one of my birds on his barn roof and the rest of the floce came in and drove it off! Came as a surprise to me! Birds I find killed by cats or preditor birds are normally torn up pretty good though. Can't see that dead bird real well but doesn't look like another bird got it.
 
I have noticed a massive decrease in smaller birds and large increase in corridor. Blackbirds magpies etc. Whilstmy garden isn't as bird friendly as my neighbours. . They used to hope through the fence from their lawn to mine. Can't remember when I last saw one. .
 
Numbers are definately down, this year has been pretty quiet compared to the previous 2 years.

Oddly though, feral pigeon numbers seem to be up.
 
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