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At Jerrabomberra Wetlands (well-known waterbird
watching spot in the ACT, beside the Molonglo River in Canberra) yesterday, I
found the carcase of a Black-shouldered Kite
(adult). The body has the wings complete (which makes identifying it easy), the
feet have been chewed off and it is very raggedy and smelly. What is odd is that
the kite's beak is open and wedged into its beak is the skull of what looks like
a mouse. Only the back of the skull and a small piece of the mouse's spine
(cervical part) attached is visible. Nothing odd about a B-sK eating a mouse but
the fact that only a small part of the mouse was visible, suggests that the rest
had already been eaten. Presumably the bird died (choked perhaps) whilst trying
to get the mouse's head down. The mouse's skull is pointing snout first and
quite tightly lodged in the kite's beak. I couldn't get it out to have a proper
look without some serious effort and the whole thing being very decayed and me
being on my way to a restaurant for dinner I didn't wish to do so.
Philip
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