On 8/23 I saw a rattlesnake under my sunflower feeder (common occurrence ), so I went to get a trashcan and snake stick to catch it, but it had moved by the time I got back to it. I catch 0-7 each year and move them away from the house..
On 8/24, there was a dead Steller's Jay under that feeder. I poked at it, and saw no sign of what killed it. Later I looked for it, but it was gone, so we figured the dogs moved it. Maybe 1 hour later, my wife and sister-in-law spot the rattler heading into some tall grass, so I go catch it. AND, the dead jay is back within 3 feet of where I originally saw it, and the head and shoulders are all black and slick and icky. Those of you that have been here have probably seen my pictures of a rattler eating a red crossbill, and several years ago, as I captured a rattler with a red crossbill (another one) in his mouth, he regurgitated it so that he could defend himself. That dead bird was amazingly partially digested already, even though it only got 1/2 way down the snake gullet. SO I think, with some poor visual evidence, that the rattler struck and killed the Steller's Jay this morning, then tried to swallow it back under a rock but couldn't fit it, so regurgitated it on his way back out to hunt. The rattler would not confirm or deny my theory. The dead jay was nowhere near a window, so I don't think it was a window strike. Davis - at 6,000 ft. 4 miles NW of Lyons (Larimer County) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAGiNt0C_vApGBNCFwXCwOmpijqKavk5TouqiBqgC0qZFqFo7VA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
