Red Kite - More Daily Mail nonsense (1 Viewer)

[Mark Etheridge]

Let's see...
Fashion Model - check
Small Soppy Dog - check
Evil, dangerous Red Kite - check
Clueless reporter - check

...and there you have the high journalistic standards of the Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135589/Bird-prey-tried-snatch-little-dog-arms.html

<sigh>:C

 

[Mike Price]

Let's see...
Fashion Model - check
Small Soppy Dog - check
Evil, dangerous Red Kite - check
Clueless reporter - check

...and there you have the high journalistic standards of the Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135589/Bird-prey-tried-snatch-little-dog-arms.html

<sigh>:C

I love the fact that they make of point of the dog only weighing 4lb although they failed to mention that the bird would weigh about 2lb.

Stupidity reigns

 

[Irish Kite]

The Daily Mail is really scraping the barrell if they think fashion models are a go to source for info on Red Kite Ecology|=\|

 

[angusmcoatup]

I love the fact that they make of point of the dog only weighing 4lb although they failed to mention that the bird would weigh about 2lb.

Stupidity reigns

4lb is pretty hefty prey for a Kite, it must have been after the model.

 

[NoSpringChicken]

4lb is pretty hefty prey for a Kite, it must have been after the model.

:clap: :-O

 

[chris butterworth]

"It was huge". I'd have thought a 'model' would have seen far bigger things than a Red Kite. :-O < Nearest smilie to a snigger.

Chris

 

[June Atkinson]

"It was huge". I'd have thought a 'model' would have seen far bigger things than a Red Kite. :-O < Nearest smilie to a snigger.

Chris

Joking aside, this article, which I have just sent to all our Committee members, can do a lot of damage.
We do Presentations throughout the northern region - most recently for the North Northumberland Bird club, where there were eighty present - and it is a question asked sometimes. People do want to be reassured. I always stress that a kite is all fluff and feathers, weighing no more than a kilo+(3lb) bag of sugar, so it is not strong enough to take any sizeable prey.
And yes, people are surprised to learn that, apart from carrion, their favourite food is earthworms :eat:

 

[BillN]

I would have preferred a Sun Page 3 illustration

(not meaning to offend anyone)

 

[Mike Price]

closely followed by this story http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9231649/Red-Kites-snatch-sausages-from-barbecue.html

Shock horror an animal took some food that was outside.

The sensationalism is shocking, the fact that someone deemed it newsworthy at a time when there are far more important things going on both at home and abroad makes me glad I don't bother to buy newspapers.

 

[Irish Kite]

closely followed by this story http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9231649/Red-Kites-snatch-sausages-from-barbecue.html

Shock horror an animal took some food that was outside.

The sensationalism is shocking, the fact that someone deemed it newsworthy at a time when there are far more important things going on both at home and abroad makes me glad I don't bother to buy newspapers.

Followed by this :http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/ex...-off-eagle-who-tried-to-fly-off-with-dog.html


We truely live in the age of stupid:-C


PS: Do the Thames Valley police not have better things to be doing then issuing crime-line numbers of Kites going about their business??? - surely this will encourage more crank stories like this one:C|=\|

 

[Cheshire Birder]

closely followed by this story http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9231649/Red-Kites-snatch-sausages-from-barbecue.html

Shock horror an animal took some food that was outside.

The sensationalism is shocking, the fact that someone deemed it newsworthy at a time when there are far more important things going on both at home and abroad makes me glad I don't bother to buy newspapers.

I loved the quote - Experts think there are now between 700 and 1,000 breeding pairs of red kites in the Thames Valley area.

Only one word for that and it isn't repeatable!!

CB

 

[Cheshire Birder]

PS: Do the Thames Valley police not have better things to be doing then issuing crime-line numbers of Kites going about their business??? - surely this will encourage more crank stories like this one:C|=\|

:t:

CB

 

[chris butterworth]

You have to remember that these Red Kites ( the name is rather telling - RED Kites ) are foreign immigrants so the Telegraph is only trying to protect the British public from the raveging eastern hordes from beyond the Channel. :eek!:

Chris

 

[Irish Kite]

Breaking news

My parents Westie had a falling out with a neighbours chicken today - does anyone have the number for the Thames Valley police???

PS: I hope my phone doesn't get hacked given this potentially major scoop for the gutter press:cat::news::smoke:3

 

[vstromman]

Any person know if Kites take live prey? I thought they were scavengers!

 

[Rob Smallwood]

If there is a shortage of voles and shrews they can get forced out of their motorway verge homeland seeking out dumb animals, and in this case it's ridiculous pet too.....

 

[Firecrest5]

It was probably an escaped red tailed hawk.......

 

[June Atkinson]

Any person know if Kites take live prey? I thought they were scavengers!

The Red Kites are true scavengers and eat carrion, but their favourite food is earthworms. At harvest-time we see them walking in the furrows. looking for the worms.
At lambing-time they will patiently wait for the after-births to drop, but they do not go for live prey such as lambs.
They are opportunistic, however, and would possibly take tiny mammals, e.g. voles, if the chance presented itself.
Although they have a five-foot wing span, they only weigh about 3lbs - I always describe them as being all fluff and feathers, but with little power.

They are sociable birds, and here in the lower Derwent Valley their area is within six miles of the huge conurbation of Gateshead/Newcastle upon Tyne.
We have them happily settled amongst the villages throughout the valley.

 

[Tideliner]

June they will also go for half grown chickens as I witnessed last year at very close range. I suspect the problem here is the wording " very close range". With people feeding the birds they are losing their fear of people and in the manner of large gulls suposedly attacking people , red kites are getting a similar blame. This could be a case of the kite treating the dog as a rival scavenger.

 

[SUGS]

Any person know if Kites take live prey? I thought they were scavengers!

Most of the time !

http://www.berksbirds.co.uk/show_photo.asp?photo_id=4773