Dead birds

[Mac66]

OK. Here goes. This really bugs me.

Recently I saw 2 trees fall over on the same day. An unusaul sight I trust you'll agree and this got me thinking about other things that should be quite a common spectacle but aren't.

Why dont I see more birds drop dead out of the sky. There must be a lot of birds and a lot of people, so the probability is that at some point someone somewhere must have seen this. But I don't know anyone who has.

Do they wake up in the morning and think "Oh no, got a dodgy ticker this morning, better not go flying? "

 

[domtyler]

Phew, I thought this was going to be another necrophilia thread!

 

[Pete]

You need to consider the most common causes of death amongst wild birds. I reckon action of predators - both in the air and on the ground - accidents such as roadkill - human activity - etc. - account for a fair proportion.

But when it does come to a bird dying of natural causes, I reckon it will suffer an instinctive feeling of being unwell and will return to the ground or perch before succumbing. Whereupon its body will, as likely as not, be taken by a cat or fox before you come to spot it.

As it happens we were watching a sparrowhawk soaring and swooping over the local woodland on Sunday, obviously looking for prey. If we had been lucky enough to see it actually take another bird that would have been a sight worth seeing. But we watched in vain...

 

[Arch]

Someone I knew once saw a pigeon drop out of the sky, dead. The more disturbing thing was that shortly afterwards, a little old lady came along and picked it up and put it in her shopping basket on wheels.

But otherwise, Pete's right. Any animal not feeling well will stop behaving normally, and probably hide under shelter somewhere.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

Why dont I see more birds drop dead out of the sky.

Because you don't go pheasant shooting.

 

[Pete]

Any animal not feeling well will stop behaving normally, and probably hide under shelter somewhere.

Or, if it's an Elephant*, of course....

*but hopefully not a baby one...

 

[Arch]

Friend of mine trained as a vet. When he and his wife lived in Wales, they had a rural practice and holiday makers used to bring injured pheasants in.

"Hmm," says the vet. "This bird's been shot."

"Oh," say holiday makers, "Who would do such a thing....?"

The vets would take it in for 'care', which normally involved a hot oven and basting - and lo and behold, Mitchell and Webb did a sketch to that effect last week!

 

[Twenty Inch]

Because you don't go pheasant shooting.

Beat me to it.

 

[Globalti]

I've heard then seen a few birds drop dead out of the sky, a few milliseconds after being caused to decelerate instantly from flying speed to zero by an invisible sheet of window glass.

Does that count?

 

[Fnaar]

It's an oft-asked question: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/jchronicle/entry/what_happens_to/

But here is an answer: http://ask.yahoo.com/19980921.html

 

[ufkacbln]

Little boy sees dead bird on path and asks Dad the question.

Dad points out as above that birds know they are goinfg to die, and simply lie down add wait for God to collect them.



Little boy muses for a few minutes and says ....... Mummy nearly died!

Dad asks "What do you mean?"



Little boy replies........................................






















Well she was lying on the floor yelling "God, I'm Coming!" and she might have gone if the Milkman wasn't holding her down!

 

[snorri]

It's an oft-asked question: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/jchronicle/entry/what_happens_to/

But here is an answer: http://ask.yahoo.com/19980921.html

Some of these answers show just how removed modern man has become from the natural world, and from good spelling

Wild birds die and go to "pet sematary"

 

[bonj2]

Birds don't fly for long, unless they're eagles or albatrosses or something, or they're migrating. YOur common or garden sparrow or blackbird only flies for a few metres/seconds at a time, they probably stop bothering when they're nearing the endof their innings.

 

[laurence]

Take me in your arms again
Wash me in your eyes
Tie me to the house again
Love me till love dies
Love me till love dies

Blame me for everything
Not just for the bad times
Whispering sweet nothings in your ear
Just like a dead bird sings

Look into my face again
Between us there’s a mile
I can see a hole in the sky
As wide as your smile

It’s not that you’ve gone away
It’s that I’ve never met you
But I wish that you’d come back to me
Just like the night turns blue
Just like the night turns blue

Take me in your arms again
Balme me for everything
Not just the bad times
Whispering sweet nothings in my ear
Just like a dead bird sings
Love me till love dies

 

[Blue]

OK.

Why dont I see more birds drop dead out of the sky. "

Are you sure you haven't seen loads of birds drop dead?

I mean, every time you see a bird fall towards the ground do you check that they are still alive when they land? You have spent your life assuming they are just flying in for a safe landing - you could be wrong