It’s a rough time to be a young bird in my yard at the northern edge of Duluth. Yesterday morning at 6 am, when I heard the Robins chirping in alarm, I discovered one of my Great Horned Owls had captured a robin for breakfast. This afternoon a Merlin was eating Grackle.
While the owls have fledged, I did not realize I had a Merlin nest in the vicinity. Once the youngsters start begging, the location of the nest will become obvious (at least to me).
Massacre by Merlin (a Northwoods falcon)
I have occasionally noted in this blog that I speak bird. Listen to the Robins chirping in alarm in this video … and remember. They will let you know when raptors are near by.
Merlin the Movie (video link for email subscribers)
We live on Park Point. Two day’s ago my husband found a dead gull. His head looked like it had been sawed off??? The body was still there along with the head. This was in Southward Marsh. What would do this and not eat the bird?
Sue: Hard to say, but if one bird is defending a nest from another bird … they can be vicious. I occasionally found decapitated birds underneath the nest of the Great Horned Owl family that lives near my home. My research via the Cornell School of Ornithology yielded that owls decapitate their prey (birds) as it makes for less of a mess in terms of blood. The owlets were messy and sometimes dropped these birds (the prey) to the ground. Thus, while I can not answer your question, there are lots of possible reasons. I have seen similar. Nature can be cruel.