We are blessed with having an established tree next to our new home. I've been watching, for months, a family of blackbirds explore and create a nest, feed and start to fledge their young family.
This morning I was awoken with the awful distress sound of the blackbirds. Both parents were trying to stop an evil magpie who was attacking their fully fledged chick. I ran out, rescued the poor soul, put him in a shoebox lined with shredded paper but a less than an hour later he sadly died (not that he had any visible injuries) who likely died from the shock.
I can understand nature taking it's course and birds are killed by sparrow hawks and the like for food. Magpie's to me seem to be vermin, killing for fun. This poor chick was less than three weeks old and we witnessed his last breath.
I keep thinking of the poor little soul, resting in my hands, his heart racing. Magpie's are vile.
andylee_me_uk said:
This morning I was awoken with the awful distresse sound of the blackbirds. Both parents were trying to stop an evil magpie who was attacking their fully fledged chick. I ran out, rescued the poor soul, put him in a shoebox lined with shredded paper but a less than an hour later he sadly died (not that he had any visible injuries) who likely died from the shock.
Well what about Raptors, Owls etc. This is what happens with wildlife on this planet from the smallest insect up to the largest feature on this planet.
Andy, nature can be harsh at times, it basically works on the basis of hunt and be hunted, that is natures way of keeping the numbers just right, and the predators will clear up after the others have gone, that's why rarely we see any dead birds, or other creatures lying around, apart from those where human intervention has taken part.
Those magpies have to eat, they're a carrion bird, which basically mean they feed on the flesh of other animals, not just birds.
When you think about it, the blackbirds are not much less 'vile' to use your words, for they will pull worms out the ground, eat insects and lots more, so do robins, blue tits like fleshy green caterpillars, which could become colourful invertebrates, and there are lots more examples.
Its the circle of life, and we as a species need to learn to understand, accept and live in harmony with it.
Sorry to be so harsh, but that is nature, that is life, but its not an excuse for us to treat nature as a commodity or abuse it.