Dead pigeon!

[oldie]

Feral and domestic pigeons aka rock doves originate from cliffs too.

You are of course correct David, that's why in their natural habitat pigeons are the Peregrines natural prey, it's very interesting to see a pigeon in it's own Cliff or Quarry face habitat avoiding peregrines, the pigeons fly very close to the cliff face twisting as they go making it difficult for the peregrine to make a hit, unfortunately racing pigeons in flight do not have this luxury. Its also interesting to note that feral pigeons seem to have become vary astute to the peregrines hunting habits and hunker down as soon as they are aware of peregrines in the area, whilst racing and tumbler pigeons have been selectively bred to perform in open sky thus making them a very easy and expensive target.
oldie

 

[Oakwood]

Sounds like a Fox. A Sparrowhawk would pluck the bird so you’ll see breast feathers unless disturbed.

 

[Mike Reed]

I once wrote a story featuring Dastardly and Muttley when I was at primary school. I remember describing DD flying the plane "complicatedly" and my mother, a secondary school English teacher, correcting me and saying that "In a complicated fashion" was better English. I was probably about 7 at the time. Tough lessons, I had been rather proud of "complicatedly". It was even correctly spelt.

Steve, I'm afraid, after all these years, your mother was incorrect grammatically, assuming she thought it was wrong, that is. 'Complicatedly' is an acceptable adverb (New O.E.D.), and as it described your verb 'flying', its use was correct. If she just thought there was a better way of expressing it, she was right

Dearie me; nursing that educational injustice all these years.............In your mum's favour, however, it wasn't the most apposite adverb, but bloody good for a 7 year old nonetheless.

 

[linnfomaniac83]

Sounds like a Fox. A Sparrowhawk would pluck the bird so you’ll see breast feathers unless disturbed.

The feathers have all been plucked from the abdomen!

 

[tqineil]

Kestrels = black eyes, sparrowhawks = yellow/orange.

that would indicate the dead one above is a kestrel then?

 

[BJP]

that would indicate the dead one above is a kestrel then?

Oy! bugger off I'm dead and I was a sparrowhawk

 

[tqineil]

haha...ET's kestrel pic had that much orange around the eye

the tail feathers are the clincher tho, definitely a S- Hawk

 

[Tigerjones]

Sounds like a wolf to me.

 

[gintonic]

Sounds like a wolf to me.

If he was hungry like the wolf, the OP would've have taken my advice and eaten it..............

 

[Bjork67]

Could the pigeon not just have exploded because of trump brexit or a cable thread ? It does eventually take its toll.

 

[linnfomaniac83]

Could the pigeon not just have exploded because of trump brexit or a cable thread ? It does eventually take its toll.

Possibly, I don’t think pigeons have WiFi or 4G though... in any case, he’s gone now, must have made a miraculous recovery!

 

[gintonic]

he’s gone now

are you sure it was a "he"?

 

[Mike Reed]

are you sure it was a "he"?

When it's attacked by a gender blender predator, this is surely irrelevant.

 

[gintonic]

When it's attacked by a gender blender predator, this is surely irrelevant.

it is unimportant - but in sense that the OP referred to the said bird as a "he" and I was curious as to how that had been determined.

 

[linnfomaniac83]

are you sure it was a "he"?

Not at all, I've no idea of it's gender... for the sake of political correctness I should have written she/he.

 

[Mike Reed]

Not at all, I've no idea of it's gender... for the sake of political correctness I should have written she/he.

Or even 'it' ? (load of old cock anyway !)

 

[suzywong]

Couple of years ago, SMWBO came down to the conservatory for coffee and noticed a huge amount of pigeon feathers at the bottom of the garden. I was sent to bravely look.........

So I walked around the bush and there was the sparrowhawk with it's foot on the half-plucked pigeon.

I came to an abrupt stop and we looked at each other for several seconds. Quite large, probably a female.

I could imagine what she was thinking.....

"My breakfast - you wanna make something of it, human?"

"Ah human, might I draw your attention to these very sharp claws and beak"

"Hmmm. I wonder whether I could take him.....for lunch perhaps?"

etc.

I moved backwards slowly, she plucked a few more feathers and took off with the carcass - saved me clearing it up!

 

[Mike Reed]

Surprised this thread is still airborne; it's positively phoenix-like.

 

[suzywong]

Surprised this thread is still airborne; it's positively phoenix-like.

Beats arguing whether cables make a difference

 

[linnfomaniac83]

Couple of years ago, SMWBO came down to the conservatory for coffee and noticed a huge amount of pigeon feathers at the bottom of the garden. I was sent to bravely look.........

So I walked around the bush and there was the sparrowhawk with it's foot on the half-plucked pigeon.

I came to an abrupt stop and we looked at each other for several seconds. Quite large, probably a female.

I could imagine what she was thinking.....

"My breakfast - you wanna make something of it, human?"

"Ah human, might I draw your attention to these very sharp claws and beak"

"Hmmm. I wonder whether I could take him.....for lunch perhaps?"

etc.

I moved backwards slowly, she plucked a few more feathers and took off with the carcass - saved me clearing it up!

Not a great thing to have to clear up! The one in my front garden hadn't been there long at all before I discovered it, I'd been out at about 8.00am and it wasn't there, I found it at about 11.30am and it was swarming with wasps and flies, I got stung trying to move it... luckily for me, I drove down to a festival early hours Sunday morning after my Saturday night gig and it had gone when I got back Sunday night.