Several years ago, I posted to Cayugabirds-L about seeing a chipmunk kill an adult female cardinal. The chipmunk and the cardinal were feeding, apparently companionably, on the ground beneath my dad’s bird feeder. Suddenly, the chipmunk lunged at the cardinal and grasped her in his/her mouth by the head. The cardinal flopped wildly from side to side, trying to escape. We ran outside, not able to repress that desire to save the bird, even knowing that as Rob says, “Nature is messy.”
The chipmunk ran off, scolding loudly, but we were too late to help the cardinal. Her neck was broken. We had to go away from the house on an errand, so we placed the dead cardinal on a nearby stump. When we came back a short time later, the cardinal was gone. We know she didn’t leave under her own power, so the answer probably is that the chipmunk came back and dragged her away. Or perhaps a cat that wasn’t kept inside took her. Pretty dramatic example of how predatory these little bundles of muscle really are. Kathy Kramer On Sep 9, 2015, at 6:53 PM, Rob Blye <rwb...@comcast.net<mailto:rwb...@comcast.net>> wrote: Chipmunks and squirrels do what they do without conscience or shame as do all predators. Nature is messy. Good work for keeping your cats inside. ________________________________ From: "Melanie Uhlir" <mela...@mwmu.com<mailto:mela...@mwmu.com>> To: "Robyn Bailey" <rb...@cornell.edu<mailto:rb...@cornell.edu>>, "Susan Fast" <sustf...@yahoo.com<mailto:sustf...@yahoo.com>>, "CAYUGABIRDS-L" <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu<mailto:cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu>> Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2015 4:17:23 PM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] a mystery---goldfinchs I guess I hate chipmunks now. Why didn't the vicious vermin eat the murder victims?? My cats are indoor-only. If I could train them to eat only chipmunks and House Sparrows I would let them out. Melanie On 9/9/2015 4:11 PM, Robyn Bailey wrote: Re: Part 2…I have heard that this is a chipmunk M.O. Fortunately, have never had to witness it in person. Robyn Bailey From: bounce-119633859-15067...@list.cornell.edu<mailto:bounce-119633859-15067...@list.cornell.edu> [mailto:bounce-119633859-15067...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Susan Fast Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2015 3:20 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] a mystery---goldfinchs I've been watching some inexplicable behavior (to me) by 1 or 2 goldfinches nesting in my yard. There are 2 parts. Part 1: 2 weeks ago I noticed a female goldfinch perching in bushes along the front of the house, then flying toward the upper lefthand corner of a large double-hung window, hovering for a second, then flying against the glass. This was late afternoon and she repeated the behavior a dozen times. I would scare her away, but she returned after several minutes. Night fell and she desisted. At 0700 next morning she was at it again. I tightly closed the inside curtains. No effect. I then hung a painter's dropcloth over the whole window on the outside. This stopped her briefly, but she then moved to the upper lefthand corner of an adjacent window (same size and shape, but 4' away) and continued. I put a dropcloth over that window also. I have 2 other identical windows in the second story over these, but she did not go up there, thankfully. I didn't see her the rest of the day. Next morning I took the cloths down and she did not reappear. Part 2: The last several days, I have seen a goldfinch flying repeatedly into the top (40' up) of a large sugar maple in our side yard. Nest, I figured. About an hour ago, my daughter found a headless baby bird, still warm, on the ground under the tree. The neck was still present, although skinless, the head gone except for the very bottom edge of it, apparently cleanly removed. She called me out to look, and as we did so, another baby dropped onto the roof of her car. Blood was still flowing from the point where the neck attaches to the body, but both head and neck were gone. No other damage visible. Both babies have rudimentary wing feathers and patches of fuzz here and there. At this time also, an adult goldfinch could be heard vocalizing from above in the tree. Shortly thereafter, a female adult was seen moving about among the goldenrod and other weed heads below the tree and picking out seeds. She was also vocalizing (prob. same bird) initially, but stopped after a couple minutes. Ideas welcome. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
