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: 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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