Today whilst at my university (Murdoch University) in Western Australia, I
noticed a very strange avian phenomenon which I have not previously
witnessed. Two Australian Ravens were perched high upon a roof and were
pecking at something. Upon closer inspection, it was evident that they were
pecking at a large, adult, Laughing-turtle Dove. They appeared to be
plucking it around the throat and feathers were flying everywhere. Given
their known scavenging behaviour, I assumed that it was just a corpse that
they had found. Suddenly, the corpse moved, and I noticed that the dove was
still alive. The ravens pecked violently at it and it seemed to stop
moving. After a while, one raven moved off, and the other kept pecking at
the corpse until it fell into a gutter, after which the raven flew off.
This raises two questions - were the ravens exhibiting predatory behaviour
and how on earth did they manage to drag the adult dove up on to the roof.
Has anyone else had similar experiences or sightings?
Cheers,
Rob.
******************************************
Robert Davis
Honours Student
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Murdoch University
Perth WA
E-mail :
PH: (09) 354 1719
******************************************
******************************************
Robert Davis
Honours Student
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Murdoch University
Perth WA
E-mail :
PH: (09) 354 1719
******************************************
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