Home Page
   Articles
       links
About Us    
Traders        
Recipes            
Latest Articles
Road kill.

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Shooting and Trapping for the Pot
Author 
 Message
Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 10 6:00 pm    Post subject: Road kill. Reply with quote
    

A friend of mine in Australia witnessed an amazing thing yesterday whilst out for a walk.
She spotted an Aus magpie struggling to drag a still living black snake (venomous) from the road to the bush, nothing unusual about that but she heard a car coming, & the magpie instead of flying away or trying harder to remove its prey reversed & took the snake to the middle of the road.
The car did the deed & the magpie returned to pick up the now dead snake?
'Aint nature wonderful, & never underestimate the brain power of a bird.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 10 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

ace

GENT



Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 387
Location: Student diggs- coventry.
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 10 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

wow! Those birds are plotting against us i tell you! They are planning something!!

nettie



Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 10 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Wonder if they're any good with rabbits? Our cats are useless!

T.G



Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 10 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Magpies are smart little cookies

pricey



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 10 12:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Great story, love it.

matt_hooks



Joined: 01 Aug 2010
Posts: 312
Location: Lambourn(ish) Berkshire
PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 10 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

haha that's brilliant!

Are Aus magpies the same as our ones? I've seen a magpie empty a roadside rubbish bin by "walking" the bag up to the top using feet and beak, but the car trick is a neat one!

Dave NE



Joined: 08 Sep 2010
Posts: 18

PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 10 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

A few years ago we watched a Magpie kill a baby rabbit, it grabbed it in its beak and flew into the air about 6-8 feet and dropped it on the road, it took a while for the rabbit to die and was not nice to watch but, thats nature in the raw, Dave NE

Cobnut



Joined: 29 Aug 2008
Posts: 475
Location: North Herefordshire
PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 10 7:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Corvids are very bright birds. Here’s a clip of them working out how to crack nuts...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P8Nwl7FAJk

Bodger



Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 10 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Survival of the fittest. All the thick magpies are flat.

Green Man



Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5272
Location: Rural Scotland.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 10 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Dave NE wrote:
A few years ago we watched a Magpie kill a baby rabbit, it grabbed it in its beak and flew into the air about 6-8 feet and dropped it on the road, it took a while for the rabbit to die and was not nice to watch but, thats nature in the raw, Dave NE

Does that make a Magpie a 'Bird Of Prey'. I told somebody once I saw two crows kill a healthy Curlew in an stubble field and eat it, but they refused to believe me as "Crows don't kill, just scavange".

matt_hooks



Joined: 01 Aug 2010
Posts: 312
Location: Lambourn(ish) Berkshire
PostPosted: Wed Sep 15, 10 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

[quote="Green Man"]
Dave NE wrote:
"Crows don't kill, just scavange".


And I can confirm that's a load of old tosh! Corvids are as much birds of prey as eagles! On Rum the white tailed eagles preferred to follow the stalker and wait for them to produce the inevitable free meal (nice nutritious deer gralloche) than to actually hunt live prey, but they are more than capable of taking a small deer if times are hard. If there is "free" food available by scavenging, it's not a sensible survival strategy to work hard to catch/kill your own, the energy balance favours scavenging whenever possible, but if it's not then a crow will think nothing of raiding a nest, or having away a kit or a live mouse or similar!

Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Shooting and Trapping for the Pot All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1
View Latest Posts View Latest Posts

 

Archive
Powered by php-BB © 2001, 2005 php-BB Group
Style by marsjupiter.com, released under GNU (GNU/GPL) license.
Copyright © 2004 marsjupiter.com