SunnySideUp

When they drop dead?

You rarely see dead birds lying about the paths and roads ... but there are birds all over the place - MILLIONS of them!!

Do they get eaten as soon as they fall? - unlikely

Do they drop into areas where people don't go? - acounts for half?

Do they go somewhere to die? - unlikely

What happens to them? Some must die 'on the wing' - and they fall .... but why don't we see these dead birds laid all over the place??

Anyone have the answer?

ash002004

iTrader: (1)

Owls and cats eat them surely? Don't forget rats

And dont forget no1 is ever more than 3 or 4 feet away from a rat at all times

fatherpierre

Well they'll be too weak to fly, so won't just drop out of the sky.

And because they're too weak to fly they will most likely be picked off by predators and eaten, as per most animals.

SunnySideUp

That doesn't account for ALL the dead birds surely?

When was the last time you saw a bird in a tree dead? Say stuck upside down halfway up a tree?

And people would see a dead bird sometimes before a rat got to it - I can say I have only ever seen about 5 dead birds in my very long life (for which I had no explaination why/how they died) in other words, ignoring road kills and cat kills.

ash002004

iTrader: (1)

lol if your life ended in a tree mate or a very high ledge, where is your body likely to end up?

fatherpierre

Other birds will be a bird's main predator.

They are evil b@stards.

odds

There was a bird 'sunbathing' in my garden recently.

It looked quite comical with it's legs pointing straight up.

That particular bird is now buried at the local tip. The funeral procession consisted of a dust cart.

HTH

Lily The Beige

That wasn't your wife was it?

97TURBO

This does infact happen, i remember it on Planet Earth or something like that, the birds can die in mid air when crossing ocean's.

Mogsi

Yep....

Last week a pigeon flew straight into our office window ( daft b4stard ) BANG, stone cold dead. It literally took a couple of hours for the local magpies/crows to reduce it to a very clean skeleton, sick I tell you ( although highly amusing at the time )

fatherpierre

I know.

But they drop into the sea, so aren't seen.

The OP was asking about the ones on land.....

97TURBO

This is true, i have seen a sparrow hawk take a pigeon out of a tree in our back garden and make a right royal mess of it, soon followed by crows cleaning up the remain's.

odds

I thought it was a magpie. But now you mention it, they take everything they see as well.

Maybe I was confused?

bigarf

iTrader: (67)

i can tell you where atleast 2 birds have gone to die. (my front mount intercooler).

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

You dont think its all Turkey do you ?

Bubba po

Sunnyside up, do you walk around with your eyes shut? The roads are absolutely LITTERED with bird corpses. The joinery workshop where I ply my trade is on a farm with a large population of feral cats; as a consequence the place is like a charnel house for the avian population - it's a macabre jigsaw puzzle of wings, legs and feathers wherever you look! Plus, the diligent activities of flies, sexton beetles, microbes and council dustcart operatives are more than enough to ensure that your life is rarely troubled by the sight of massed heaps of late dickie-birds.

zip106

I saw a dead parrot once.

fast bloke

We have badgers that dig up the lawn if I don't feed them scraps. I've never seen them in the garden. I assumed this was because they were kipping all day and are hard to see in the dark. Last week a big fat pigeon decided to pop its clogs mid flight and landed about 3 ft away from me. Scared the **** out of me. (Imagine the scene - alone in the countryside, no-one for at least half a mile and then you hear a thud and a cloud of feathers appears beside you)

Realised it was a dead bird and went to get a shovel to scoop it up and chuck it in the bin. I hadn't gone ten steps when I heard a new strange noise. Turned around and Mr Badger had scooped Mr Pigeon and was legging it away down the garden with surprising pace. I thought that badgers ate fruit and worms, so I've sussed out what happens. All the local ethnic restaurants employ teams of badgers to supply them with some of the raw materials for chicken curry

Bubba po

The details seem a little sketchy.

zip106

Yeah, yeah. Norwegian Blue, I think.
ba-dum tish.

Bubba po

Aha! You've discovered that Badgers are omnivores.

fast bloke

It starts with a couple of bits of fruit and a few worms. Them some roadkill or a fresh heart attack victim, but where will it end. Maybe 50 of them will gang up and cart me off to the curry house

Bubba po

If they do, make sure they pick up the tab.

(****, I hate Americanisms)

fast bloke

(Info point: Tabs over here are cigarette butts.)


Do you think they should put the tabs in the curry with me? Is that a new flavour?

Bubba po

Not exactly new, FB- certain inventive Chefs have been exploring the avenues down which tobacco-based curries might head.

Ones to look out for might be the Lamb bhote unbutlar and the Embhasi Regal korma.

fast bloke

Did you copy that or make it up.... it is rather good

Bubba po

What are the chances that I nicked it? Ok, the tinterweb's a big place - but i did make them up.

fast bloke

I'd say about 99.9999999%.


But anyway - back on topic with a tentative link

maybe this is where the dead birds go

Bubba po

You're conflating two contrasting ideas in a witty way. That's not allowed to happen outside of the now defunct Muppet Show (we have no idea! Enter at your own risk -you have been warned!)

fast bloke

Oh ohhhhh..... we know we can't do conflating and stuff in NSR cos the webbie said it made some people feel left out.



Sorry left out people. If you want to conflate, feel free.