I was in my kitchen this morning when there was this almighty bang on the patio door glass. A blackbird (hen, it later turned out to be) had hit the glass with some force with a cat, one of the neighbours' cats, chasing it. Obviously, the cat had surprised the bird and the bird had taken off, but was momentarily disoriented, which caused it to veer off and fly straight into the door. The bird then lay upon the ground and the cat went for it. However, seconds later, the cat seemed to lose interest as the bird appeared lifeless by then.
A couple of minutes later I looked again and the 'dead' bird was lying on the lawn. I was already making plans to deal with its disposal.
But then, suddenly, another three minutes later *another* blackbird flew down and strutted around near the 'dead' bird, whereupon the corpse as if by magic jumped up, shook itself a bit and flew off.
It really looked as if the bird knew that by playing dead, the cat would wander off. Okay, so it might have been stunned by the strike against the glass, I suppose.
What a fascinating discussion!
It just shows how clever nature can be.
I'm so glad your blackbird was lucky and came to little harm.
Cheers, Linda.
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I have seen a young Red Kite play dead at quite close quarters. They were ringing them at Gateshead and when handled just "died" then recovered and flew off. It must make ringing a lot easier with this particular species
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
I picked up a crow today - it was flapping about in the road and nearly getting run over and seemed not to be able to fly. I put it in a large laundry bag and placed next to me in my car while I contacted the vet and rspca for advice. It sat there for a while but after a period of time laid on its side with its legs slightly curled - completely still but with its eyes still open and blinking. After a while longer it got back up on its legs, put its head under its wing and went to sleep! So I think it was playing dead.
The vet I took it to reckoned it was just young and we replaced it near the same place but off the road behind a wall.
I agree that the blackbird was probably stunned. I've never seen or heard of them playing dead. Crows on the other hand...
During my crow rehab experience I've often seen the other half pick up a crow for inspection, medication, claw trim etc and place the crow, carefully, "dead" on its side in a carrier. One on occasion he had a carrier full of "dead" crows, laying on their sides but with beady eyes fixed on him! :D
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
Lol - that's v funny! Yes I can picture them because that's exactly what that one was doing yesterday! Haha!
This is such an interesting topic and I wanted your expert opinions on something I posted a while back. One of the Jays in the garden seemed to go into a hypnotic trance for what seemed like ages, as if it had seen some other bird/cat or something else that had spooked it; you could only see his/her eyes blink and with the slightest movement so wondered what your ideas were on it; I did a short video clip which was just half of the time it was semi-motionless , it just didn't move for over 7 minutes ........
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Regards, Hazel