Hi, I have a few woodpigeons in my garden, this morning when I went out there was a load of feathers a foot, no body or bones. Can anyone tell me what has killed this woodpigeon? It's not a cat as they only kill the birds not eat them. Where I live is semi rural 5 mins up the road are fields. I have big iron gates at the side of the house and iron gates at the front, so it can't be a fox.
Any help would be appreciated as I don't want to loose any more birds.
If it was a Sparrowhawk ,the regular culprit,not sure you can do much to stop it legally,nor should you it is only natural.Do not rule out cats as they will carry their kill away and it will take a lot to stop other predators like foxes if food is available.
most likely culpret is a female sparrow hawk Meesha
Andrew
Having said that id expect at least the large breast bone to have been left
Andrewa A said: Having said that id expect at least the large breast bone to have been left
Andrew You would be surprised at what they cram down their throats.
This Sparrowhawk is eating a Collared Dove every last morsel just a puddle of feathers were left.
God knows what she is trying to swallow in the pic but it went down :-)
Great shot Chris
given that shot maybe the whole bird would go down
Many thanks for replies, we do have a sparrow hawk but have never seen one in the garden. Cats do kill birds but never eat them so I knew it wasn't one.
I have loads of different birds, robins, sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, blue tits, coal tits, wrens, collared doves, woodpigeons, and the odd thrush, chaffinches magpies, also a bird thats like a blue colour but it is so fast I haven't been able to take a photo of it. I was wondering what it was. At the moment there are a pair of collared doves sitting on the fence snogging like mad, its so funny to watch them, she is certainly playing hard to get haha!
I am very blessed with the variety of birds that I do have visiting my garden.
Just before you find the sparrowhawk guilty. Have a look at the end of the feathers. if the end is still pointed. then it would indeed indicate a sparrowhawk. as birds of a prey pluck their victims. foxes etc bite the feathers off, so the end of the feather will be blunt and flat.