Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 23:34:21 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rich Dolesh Subject: Re: Question about dead waxwings MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Weasels will take heads off, too, and kill pretty indiscriminately, but unless you found these in a fairly undeveloped stream-side habitat, I would think it more likely that owls found the waxwings. One other possibility: The waxwings ate some type of contaminated foodsource, perhaps berries sprayed with one of a number of pesticides toxic to birds. When they died at the roost and fell to the ground, some type of ground predator had at them. Rich Dolesh ----- Original Message ----- From: "George M. Jett" To: Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 11:08 PM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Question about dead waxwings > Lynette > > Owls sometimes take the heads off of prey. Maybe that is the cause of the > Waxwings losing their heads. > > George > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Lynette Fullerton" > To: > Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 1:57 PM > Subject: [MDOSPREY] Question about dead waxwings > > > > Hi all, > > I was just walking across the hospital campus > > (Crownsville Hospital Center, AA County), and came > > upon a horrible sight. At the base of a huge tulip > > poplar was a dead cedar waxwing; I looked around and > > found two more, also dead. They didn't look like they > > had been dead for long. They also all looked like > > adults - by which I mean their feathers all looked > > like adult feathers, and their markings (as far as I > > could tell) seemed like adult markings. None of them > > were intact (I'm sorry if this is too graphic - it was > > a grisly scene and the description probably won't get > > any better) - the first one I found in several pieces, > > and the other two had had their heads severed, and I > > couldn't find the heads at all. > > > > Again, I apologize for the horrible details, but I > > just wanted to describe it so that maybe somebody > > could help me figure out just what went on. Was this > > the work of crows? Would they be able to attack and > > kill healthy adult birds (if that's that these were - > > if they were fledglings they were awfully > > well-developed)? Or an accipiter? If it had been > > just the one bird that's what I would have thought - > > but three, all within a few feet of each other??? > > There was a lot of CEDW activity going on overhead > > while I was 'playing detective' - they were very vocal > > (as they usually are, granted), and I also saw (and > > heard) crows about. Thinking back, this is also the > > spot where I found a dead bluebird baby last week. > > > > So can anybody help me make sense of all of this? I > > know it won't really help to be able to point the > > finger at something, I still would like to have some > > clue as to what happened... > > > > Thanks. > > > > > > > > ===== > > Lynette Fullerton > > Odenton, Anne Arundel Co., MD > > l_fullerton_1999@yahoo.com > > > > "I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and > self-contained, > > I stand and look at them long and long." > > --Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass > > > > __________________________________________________ > > Do You Yahoo!? > > Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup > > http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com > > > > ======================================================================= > > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > > ======================================================================= > > > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =======================================================================