Distressed bird in garden advice...

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Yep - that's my guess. Bird flew into sommat.

I like that brain recalibration idea tho'. Wonder if I could do it

 

[661-Pete]

I once had a collared dove do something similar - found it in a very confused state and was able to pick it up.

I once witnessed two collared doves in my garden, fighting to the death.

One of them had the other in a sort of stranglehold with its wings, preventing it from breathing. I chased off the attacker, but the loser was too badly injured to fly, it crawled away into bushes out of my reach. The next day I found it dead on the lawn. Looked as if a cat had finished it off.

So much for the dove being the symbol of peace...

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I once witnessed two collared doves in my garden, fighting to the death.

One of them had the other in a sort of stranglehold with its wings, preventing it from breathing. I chased off the attacker, but the loser was too badly injured to fly, it crawled away into bushes out of my reach. The next day I found it dead on the lawn. Looked as if a cat had finished it off.

So much for the dove being the symbol of peace...

Pete??? Eh??? They don't have opposable thumbs do they?

 

[661-Pete]

Pete??? Eh??? They don't have opposable thumbs do they?

EVOLUTION DISCOVERY OF THE CENTURY IN SUSSEX
PIGEONS "EVOLVING INTO APES"
"DARWIN WAS WRONG ALL ALONG" CLAIMS 60-YEAR-OLD CYCLIST​

Nope, sorry, nothing like that. As best as I can describe it, the stronger bird was holding down the other onto the ground using its body and outstretched wings, covering every part of its victim and smothering it so that it couldn't breathe. Extraordinary behaviour, more like a snake than a bird. I've never seen that before or since, normally when birds like starlings squabble at the feeder, it's by flying and lunging and trying to peck each other.

Perhaps some expert on here can explain this? I've been puzzled about it for years...

 

[fossyant]

Nice one Pete........(Evolution Discovery)

 

[Cardiac]

She said it looked just like it was recalibrating it's brain or something.

That's what I do most mornings. A couple of mugs of coffee normally does the trick...

 

[Globalti]

Sitting in my hotel overlooking the square and I can see some great tits.....

 

[Arch]

So much for the dove being the symbol of peace...

Nature red in beak and claw eh?

Dunnocks, BTW, have sex lives full of intrigue - I saw it on a David Attenborough programme. Lady dunnocks mate with a male, then eject his sperm secretly and mate with a better male - but the first one doesn't know, so he continues to provide for the young, along with the real father. It's like Eastenders!

 

[vernon]

As best as I can describe it, the stronger bird was holding down the other onto the ground using its body and outstretched wings, covering every part of its victim and smothering it so that it couldn't breathe.

Perhaps some expert on here can explain this? I've been puzzled about it for years...

S&M mating ritual?

 

[Arch]

S&M mating ritual?

It has been known for ducks to be drowned by gangs of drakes fighting to mate with them.

 

[ColinJ]

It has been known for ducks to be drowned by gangs of drakes fighting to mate with them.

I wonder if these birds do that too - that'd be what I call 'dying for a shag'!

(The coat is already on, and I'm heading out of the door ... )

 

[Aperitif]

I remember rich p had a disdressed bird in his garden once, and he just took photographs of it... cruel or what?

 

[Fiona N]

Dunnock - unlike sparrows, to which they are not closely related - are not gregarious: if one male invades another's territory they may fight. Rather like robins. So you usually see them singly or a pair at most.

I'm glad you said this - I had a long argument once with a guy who insisted the little sparrow-like birds we could see were dunnocks while I maintained they were hedge (as opposed to house) sparrows. As there was a gregarious flock of them, I retrospectively claim rightness

 

[661-Pete]

I'm glad you said this - I had a long argument once with a guy who insisted the little sparrow-like birds we could see were dunnocks while I maintained they were hedge (as opposed to house) sparrows. As there was a gregarious flock of them, I retrospectively claim rightness

Ahem.

The Dunnock, Prunella modularis, is a small passerine bird found throughout temperate Europe and into Asia. It is by far the most widespread member of the accentor family, which otherwise consists of mountain species. It is sometimes called the Hedge Accentor, Hedge Sparrow or Hedge Warbler.

 

[Fiona N]

Ahem.

Now that is odd as my bird book has dunnocks and hedge sparrows in separate sections and they don't look that much alike... so I guess you're only as good as your references


And whatever you call them - they come in flocks of 6-10 in my garden (usually out-numbering the house sparrows), so definitely not solitary either