As I got back from work on Saturday, I slowly pulled into the drive to be confronted by a sparrow hawk ripping a pigeon to pieces.
I sat about 10 yards away from him, with the engine running, and he didn't bat an eyelid. After about 5 minutes I decided to carry on driving in and he flew off.
When I went to look at the pigeon, who had most of his insides outside, I realised that the poor bugger was still alive through the whole thing! I put it out of it's misery straight away but I was surprised that it could stay alive whilst that was going on!
I guess you wouldn't come home to this kind of thing living in the town.
Unlike what many folks think, Mother Nature is not such a kindly old gal.
ReplyDeleteNo she's not, I think we make them out to be far to kind and wise on children's TV and then give them false ideas as to what they're like.
DeleteThey ever go for chickens
ReplyDeleteBantams yes
Chickes no
No I think chickens would be too big. It's a shame they don;t go for jackdaws more, I could do with loosing a few of those!
DeleteWolves eat their prey alive, too. As do other predators, probably. Be quick or die.....is there a moral in that?
ReplyDeleteProbably! Keeps the meat fresh I guess...
DeleteThe pigeon would register pain,but not what was happening (I hope).
ReplyDeleteJane x
They feel things so differently to you or I that I'm not sure we'd even understand. In the UK we're terrible for giving animals human emotions.
DeleteWe had a Redtailed hawk down a small bird in the yard just a few days ago. My son was standing on the deck when it came down with it's prey. I am surprised the pigeon was still alive though most of the times I have seen hawks and eagle take out other birds they are dead by the time they hit the ground.
ReplyDeleteWhen I've seen them take small birds they normally kill them as they catch them. I guess it was because the pigeon was so much bigger. In fact they're pretty much the same size! Always amazing to see this type of thing.
DeleteAbout a year ago I watched the same thing happen right in my back patio where the doves come to eat the bird seed.
ReplyDeletehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SxSXUmArNKs/Uf17na_NJkI/AAAAAAAAB8Y/Sxg9JbHazv0/s1600/IMGP9902.JPG
Your picture is better than mine and I never saw it happen, just the aftermath!
DeleteI saw something silmilar when I was feeding my cattle beef nuts in a field. A little sparrow perched on the trough eating the nuts and suddenly a big sparrow hawk swooped down and caught the little bird in its talons. Nature is so beautiful and yet so cruel. I don't think I would like to kill my own animals for meat. Could you?
ReplyDeleteThey're like a stealth bomber, just silently taking them out of the air. It doesn't really bother me to kill my own meat, it's not something I hugely enjoy but it's never stopped me before. I'm happy so long as I do it quickly and cleanly.
DeleteYes, beautiful but cruel. Doesn't bother me killing my own meat, it's done quick and humanely. Better than being eaten alive, or even sent to some distant impersonal abattoir with all the attendant stress.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same, it's never bothered me killing my own meat. I've hunted rabbits and pigeons to eat since my early teens so it's something I've grown up with really.
DeleteWe had foxes tearing a cat apart in the next garden. We defo live in the town. And I have seen a seagull kill a rabbit in a garden also. nature is opportunistic
ReplyDeleteYou've probably got more foxes than we've got as no one shoots them in the town! I've never seen a seagull kill anything but they always look blinking evil!
DeleteI came up on a hawk once that had just hit a squirrel. Was driving on the back trails and turned a corner, there he was. I drove up next to him, and he just looked at me. I opened the car door and flew off. Kind of startled me because I thought he might be coming at my face. The squirrel had claw holes in him, but he ran off. I hope he made it.
ReplyDeleteI'd never hope a squirrel would survive around here, we've have far too many and they do a lot of damage to trees and the like. This one was the same as yours - he just didn't care that I was watching him eat. I guess they've been protected so long in this country that they no longer see us as a threat?
Delete