For a while we also had a dog that did such a thing, to an injured
Bar-shouldered Dove we were looking after. Needless to say we got rid of
the dog.
Denise
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
1/7 Songlark Street
BAKEWELL NT 0832
Ph. 61 08 89 328306
> http://web.mac.com/goodfellowdl
> http://www.earthfoot.org
> http://www.mcguire-spickard.com/baby_dreaming/
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
> http://www.ausbird.com
On 15/5/07 2:21 PM, "Tony Russell" <> wrote:
> Next question is - can/do Magpies do a similar thing, ie, pull small
> aviary birds through the wires and/or scare them to death ? My partner
> has canaries on an outside verandah and we have several families of
> Magpie around.
>
> Tony.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Philip Veerman
> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 2:12 PM
> To: Peter Shute; Natalia Atkins;
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Grey Butcherbird killings in Brisbane
>
>
> Hi Peter,
>
> Yes Grey Butcherbirds will terrorise aviary birds. It is not only that
> they will extract the bird through the wires but just being there will
> frighten birds enough so that if they don't have sufficient cover, they
> will panic and die of collision injuries. This happened to me with my
> finches and Diamond Doves 35 years ago (when I lived in Melbourne and
> had birds). True, it could have been a cat or raptors but they weren't
> regular attenders. This was in an aviary. The only one I had pulled
> through the wires of a cage (when I had some temporarily in cages with
> full wooden sides roof and floor except on the one side the front),
> though was a Star Finch. A tuft of the birds feathers was left attached
> to the wires where it had been pulled through. Although I didn't witness
> it, Grey Butcherbirds were there and the only real possibility. I know
> that wouldn't stand as proof of guilt in a court of law. True that the
> one at fault was me, for being unaware of the risk and not providing
> sufficient protection (but I was just a young fellow then). Later I put
> bird netting over the front of the cages and that removed the problem.
>
> Philip
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