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Number of starlings found dead in garden today (1 Viewer)

S

Scopey

Well-known member
We have around 20 starlings - adults and their young - feeding in our back garden this week. All going well until an hour ago when we came back from the shops we found four dead - 2 adults and 2 juvenilles, at various places in the garden. I have contacted the BTO to see the likely cause. Any clues?

We have sparrowhawks come now and again - probably see one about once a month. They were all sunning themselves on the lawn this morning, but it seems strange that if it was a sparrowhawk surely he would take them away?

A horrible sight to see and it's made us wonder if we should have a bird feeding station out there at all now.
 
I'd get in touch with RSPB or BTO or even DEFRA, as a group of dead birds together points to illness or poison... 100% sure it's not a Sparrowhawk.

Fledglings are vulnerable when wet (not enough feathers etc), so a Cat would kill a few wet ones without too much effort - the adults are not vulnerable when wet. So to find 4 birds including 2 adults doesn't make sense.

Like I said, illness or Poison would be my guess, but the birds need to be examined for the sake of the rest of the flock and other local birds... just to be sure
 
Would it be possible to get a necropsy done on one of them to see if there were any poisons involved. Horrible news.
 
Here are some pictures - if they had been poisoned or had an illness, would they have still have signs of injury on them like this?
 

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I half-agree with, KC - I'd say poisoned and then attacked by Cats while weak/defenceless. Or Cats after the Starlings died... I've seen Cats take dead birds before, some like to prod and stab them to make sure they are really dead. But I can't see a Cat getting 4 otherwise healthy Starlings at the same time... in a few days yes, not within an hour in the same place

Another option is shot with an airgun and them played with by Cats - young Starlings are very noisy when begging for food, some people find the noise annoying - although a neighbour's teenage son is also a possibility.

All guesses, just things for you to consider
 
ChrisKten said:
I half-agree with, KC - I'd say poisoned and then attacked by Cats while weak/defenceless. Or Cats after the Starlings died... I've seen Cats take dead birds before, some like to prod and stab them to make sure they are really dead. But I can't see a Cat getting 4 otherwise healthy Starlings at the same time... in a few days yes, not within an hour in the same place

Another option is shot with an airgun and them played with by Cats - young Starlings are very noisy when begging for food, some people find the noise annoying - although a neighbour's teenage son is also a possibility.

All guesses, just things for you to consider
Click to expand...

Hopefully BTO get back in touch with me and perhaps they can autopsy them.
 
andyadcock said:
Any chance you have a ***** with an airgun nearby?



A
Click to expand...

The first thing my wife said when she realised we had four dead spread around the garden was "They look like they've been shot". One has a puncture mark in it - I'm not sure if you can see clearly on the picture which I thought may have been a sparrowhawks talons/beak.

If I get no reply from BTO in the morning I'll see if I can contact someone at RSPCA or RSPB to have a look at them.
 
Scopey said:
The first thing my wife said when she realised we had four dead spread around the garden was "They look like they've been shot". One has a puncture mark in it - I'm not sure if you can see clearly on the picture which I thought may have been a sparrowhawks talons/beak.

If I get no reply from BTO in the morning I'll see if I can contact someone at RSPCA or RSPB to have a look at them.
Click to expand...

Seems most likely to me I'm afraid.


A
 
I very much doubt a cat would get four birds in one fell swoop. Would it be possible to take them to a vet to ascertain whether they have been shot?
 
Update - One adult and one juvenille sent off for post mortem today after the BTO got in touch. They say most likely cause is mammal predation and they could have been weakened by the air temperature (it was hot in the garden yesterday) or perhaps illness/poison. Should have the results in a few weeks so will update. Thanks for all the replies.
 
Results have come back. The summary says:

Cause of death:

The cause of death in the two starlings is considered to be trauma. The orientation of the wounds and fractures in the birds we suspect an avian predator most likely.

We found no evidence for underlying infectious disease that might have predisposed the birds to predator attack.

Any time I have seen a sparrowhawk in the garden it will kill one bird only, pluck the feathers then take it away. Perhaps a juvenille sparrowhawk was involved and with inexperience, couldn't quite pin a bird down instantly.
 
Scopey said:
Results have come back. The summary says:

Cause of death:

The cause of death in the two starlings is considered to be trauma. The orientation of the wounds and fractures in the birds we suspect an avian predator most likely.

We found no evidence for underlying infectious disease that might have predisposed the birds to predator attack.

Any time I have seen a sparrowhawk in the garden it will kill one bird only, pluck the feathers then take it away. Perhaps a juvenille sparrowhawk was involved and with inexperience, couldn't quite pin a bird down instantly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for letting us know.

Sparrowhawks hunt alone and there's no way that all the birds just stayed there waiting to be eaten. As soon as the birds even suspect a Hawk they flee or hide - I really can't see this being a Sparrowhawk.

Assuming "Avian Predator" to be correct, then the only option are Corvids, probably Crows. Crows do cooperate while hunting birds (I've seen them set ambushes/traps for Magpies), so it's possible a number of Crows attacked the Starlings at the same time. Although Starlings are nervous of Crows, and will scold them, they don't spook like they would for a Hawk. Common situation is Crows feeding near to juvenile Starlings, but apparently ignoring them - without warning, one or more Crows will batter one or more Starlings and either carry them off or eat it where it is.

The Crows only get one chance per Starling flock, as after such an attack the juveniles treat the Crows as they would a Sparrowhawk.
 
ChrisKten said:
Thanks for letting us know.

Sparrowhawks hunt alone and there's no way that all the birds just stayed there waiting to be eaten. As soon as the birds even suspect a Hawk they flee or hide - I really can't see this being a Sparrowhawk.

Assuming "Avian Predator" to be correct, then the only option are Corvids, probably Crows. Crows do cooperate while hunting birds (I've seen them set ambushes/traps for Magpies), so it's possible a number of Crows attacked the Starlings at the same time. Although Starlings are nervous of Crows, and will scold them, they don't spook like they would for a Hawk. Common situation is Crows feeding near to juvenile Starlings, but apparently ignoring them - without warning, one or more Crows will batter one or more Starlings and either carry them off or eat it where it is.

The Crows only get one chance per Starling flock, as after such an attack the juveniles treat the Crows as they would a Sparrowhawk.
Click to expand...

Very interesting, thank you. We have since changed the feeding arrangements in our garden but back then we had a number of Crows, Jackdaws & Magpies come to the garden and feed. When the magpies came to feed the other birds would usually get out of the way, however when the Jackdaws fed they seemed to mingle quite happily. The Jackdaws would usually stay and feed for a prolonged period of around 5 minutes, however the Carrion crow usually did a smash and grab - on to the bird feeder, grab something then fly off with it. From what I recall we had a group of around four Jackdaws that were always together and the crows were usually in twos or threes so I suspect you are correct.
 
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