General Chat

Almost every morning we wake up to find a carpet of feathers on our lawns. Sometimes there are the remains of the bird but more often than not it is just feathers. My question is: If it's a fox would he take the whole bird before plucking and if it's a cat would they cause the feathers to fly and take the remains home to Mum as a present?

Thank you
Phyll

We have foxes in our garden at night and sometimes we find just feathers, beak and claws on the lawn, so I think they tend to eat them on the spot!

Thanks Wend
I wondered if foxes took food back for babies.

Good morning Phyll. :-)

Just another slant on the subject.

I have watched a group of Magpies doing this to a dead Blackbird all they left on the ground was a "bloody patch and feathers". I wasn`t close enough to see if any legs, claws or beak was left .
I had zoomed into them on a high tec security surveillance camera I was manning at the time.
It looked like the whole family had been invited to the feast.
I didn`t think that Magpies were carrion eaters, you live and learn don't you.

Shane :-D

If it is only feathers that are left then it is usually a sparrowhawk that is the main suspect.

http://www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/beast-of-the-month-sparrowhawk

Hi Shane

We have a couple of Magpies floating around here as well so I suppose it's possible it could be them. The birds that are usually killed here are wood pigeons and an occasional seagull.

I've seen magpies kill smaller birds in my garden on occasion

Well, whatever it is I'm not going to sit around ether in the night or early hours of the morning to find out. Just keep clearing up the feathers.
We don't feed the birds but next door do.

magpies are from the crow family

they are right cruel killers of other birds

magpies are from the crow family

they are right cruel killers of other birds