Hi All, today was a very sad day for me and my family. We found our juvenile crow that's been raised in our backyard by its parents over the last 5 months deceased in our side garden. Looked like it was just asleep, head to one side sitting like a chicken. No sign of any injuries, feathers. It was healthy and only seen the afternoon before happily pottering around with its parents. I'm very upset and at a loss as to what had happened. Being in Australia, i thought perhaps a snake bite but my local vet who I took it to said it could have ingested poison from eating a baited rat! They couldn't give it a proper check as rigor had started but did say it looked otherwise healthy i.e weight, feather condition etc so what else could it be? This has really affected me because I've never experienced any of our crows' young over the last 10 years passing away at such a late age. In a few more months he would have moved on for good. Has anyone else experienced anything similar with their backyard bird visitors. This has really shaken me up and the parents are just sitting in the tree above all day mournfully calling. 😔
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Torresian crow sudden death (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter klm70
- Start date
Thanks so much Lisa. Yes, we are heartbroken and watching the parents continue to look for their baby is even more distressing. 😔
This exact same thing just happened twice to the family of Torresian Crows that live in my yard.
On April 2nd I went out in the morning to fill up a water bowl I leave in the yard for them and found one of the juveniles hiding in the garden and looking weak. It wasn't injured but it wouldn't come out from under some plants and was sitting there shaking. While I was in the process of googling vets I could take it to on a Sunday morning, it died. Then around 2 weeks later on April 17, I found the other juvenile in the yard struggling to stand, shaking and unable to fly. It ran off and hid under some bushes in the garden and within a couple of hours had died just like the other one.
I was quite devastated having watched them grow up since they were just squawking voice I could hear up in the nest. Both of them were full size, seemed completely healthy with full feathers and both were seen the afternoon before their deaths looking fine and behaving normally. It was extra devastating in that they were both practically ready to move off on their own within a few weeks anyway.
On April 2nd I went out in the morning to fill up a water bowl I leave in the yard for them and found one of the juveniles hiding in the garden and looking weak. It wasn't injured but it wouldn't come out from under some plants and was sitting there shaking. While I was in the process of googling vets I could take it to on a Sunday morning, it died. Then around 2 weeks later on April 17, I found the other juvenile in the yard struggling to stand, shaking and unable to fly. It ran off and hid under some bushes in the garden and within a couple of hours had died just like the other one.
I was quite devastated having watched them grow up since they were just squawking voice I could hear up in the nest. Both of them were full size, seemed completely healthy with full feathers and both were seen the afternoon before their deaths looking fine and behaving normally. It was extra devastating in that they were both practically ready to move off on their own within a few weeks anyway.
Hi Tocca and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.
That really is such a shame to hear about these sudden deaths. I got rather fond of your Torresian Crows when I visited Australia in 2019, they got quite a bit of character. The adults would hope that at least one of their young would survive to adulthood. Perhaps it's worth having a look around your property and outside it, to see if there's anything they could have eaten in error.
Over here it's likely to be slug pellets, but don't think that would apply so much in your country. Rat poison is another.
I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
That really is such a shame to hear about these sudden deaths. I got rather fond of your Torresian Crows when I visited Australia in 2019, they got quite a bit of character. The adults would hope that at least one of their young would survive to adulthood. Perhaps it's worth having a look around your property and outside it, to see if there's anything they could have eaten in error.
Over here it's likely to be slug pellets, but don't think that would apply so much in your country. Rat poison is another.
I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
I bet the cause can be nature's harsh reality. Look, predators are a real thing. Even if they didn't seem injured, it's possible they got attacked or had some internal injuries that you just couldn't see. I mean nothing rough, but it's big possibility of its happening.
I suppose also a toxic trouble - it's also possible they stumbled upon something toxic in the yard or nearby. But it sounds weirder than previous my supposing.
