Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead on the
ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and it had
disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in taking
an already dead bird?

"JWBH" wrote in message
...
Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead on
the ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and it
had disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in taking
an already dead bird?


One in a million sighting.

you said it had just died, so yes a cat would take it.

don't forget a road kill pheasant is still ok to pick up later.

Pongo Potts wrote:
"JWBH" wrote in message
...
Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead on
the ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and it
had disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in taking
an already dead bird?


One in a million sighting.

you said it had just died, so yes a cat would take it.

don't forget a road kill pheasant is still ok to pick up later.


Any dead creature get short shrift in my rather large country garden.
Deag rabbits, squirrels, pidgeons and mice soon get hauled off, some
definately by foxes. Perhaps we should abandone the system of burning or
burying our dead, and leave them out for nature to deal with, much more
eccological friendly.

On 2/4/07 10:29, in article , "Broadback"
wrote:

Pongo Potts wrote:
"JWBH" wrote in message
...
Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead on
the ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and it
had disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in taking
an already dead bird?


One in a million sighting.

you said it had just died, so yes a cat would take it.

don't forget a road kill pheasant is still ok to pick up later.


Any dead creature get short shrift in my rather large country garden.
Deag rabbits, squirrels, pidgeons and mice soon get hauled off, some
definately by foxes. Perhaps we should abandone the system of burning or
burying our dead, and leave them out for nature to deal with, much more
eccological friendly.

Which is the Indian (I think) culture that does that? The leave the bodies
on top of very tall towers and the vultures go to work.....

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

Sacha wrote:

Which is the Indian (I think) culture that does that? The leave the
bodies on top of very tall towers and the vultures go to work.....

Tibetan buddist , it's called "sky burial" and they just leave the chopped
up corpse on the mountainside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial

I'd go for that, we are only meat.

Tom

On 2/4/07 11:26, in article , "Tom"
wrote:

Sacha wrote:

Which is the Indian (I think) culture that does that? The leave the
bodies on top of very tall towers and the vultures go to work.....

Tibetan buddist , it's called "sky burial" and they just leave the chopped
up corpse on the mountainside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial

I'd go for that, we are only meat.

Tom

That's the one - don't think I'll opt for it, though!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

"Sacha" wrote
after, "Broadback"
wrote:
Pongo Potts wrote:
"JWBH"wrote in message

Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead
on
the ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and
it
had disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also
we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in
taking
an already dead bird?


One in a million sighting.

you said it had just died, so yes a cat would take it.

don't forget a road kill pheasant is still ok to pick up later.


Any dead creature get short shrift in my rather large country garden.
Deag rabbits, squirrels, pidgeons and mice soon get hauled off, some
definately by foxes. Perhaps we should abandone the system of burning or
burying our dead, and leave them out for nature to deal with, much more
eccological friendly.

Which is the Indian (I think) culture that does that? The leave the
bodies
on top of very tall towers and the vultures go to work.....

Followers of the ancient Persian religion Zoroastranism, know as Parsi's, do
that, they simply leave their dead on platforms out in the open for vultures
to consume, the bones are then powdered and that way nothing pollutes the
earth.
http://adaniel.tripod.com/parsi.htm
I've known an Indian Parsi and a Persian (Iranian) Parsi, both lovely
people.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Sacha" wrote
[...]
Which is the Indian (I think) culture that does that? The leave the
bodies
on top of very tall towers and the vultures go to work.....

Followers of the ancient Persian religion Zoroastranism, know as
Parsi's, do that, they simply leave their dead on platforms out in
the open for vultures to consume, the bones are then powdered and
that way nothing pollutes the earth.
http://adaniel.tripod.com/parsi.htm
I've known an Indian Parsi and a Persian (Iranian) Parsi, both lovely
people.

But there's something of a crisis in the poetically-named "Towers of
Silence", owing to a dramatic decline in vultures caused by over-use of
pharmaceuticals in Indian cattle. Captive breeding programmes are in
progress, but I don't know how successful they are.

--
Mike.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Mon, 2 Apr 2007 12:47:23 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote
(in article ):


"Sacha" wrote
after, "Broadback"
wrote:
Pongo Potts wrote:
"JWBH"wrote in message

Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead
on
the ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and
it
had disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also
we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in
taking
an already dead bird?


One in a million sighting.

you said it had just died, so yes a cat would take it.

don't forget a road kill pheasant is still ok to pick up later.


Any dead creature get short shrift in my rather large country garden.
Deag rabbits, squirrels, pidgeons and mice soon get hauled off, some
definately by foxes. Perhaps we should abandone the system of burning or
burying our dead, and leave them out for nature to deal with, much more
eccological friendly.

Which is the Indian (I think) culture that does that? The leave the
bodies
on top of very tall towers and the vultures go to work.....

Followers of the ancient Persian religion Zoroastranism, know as Parsi's, do
that, they simply leave their dead on platforms out in the open for vultures
to consume, the bones are then powdered and that way nothing pollutes the
earth.
http://adaniel.tripod.com/parsi.htm
I've known an Indian Parsi and a Persian (Iranian) Parsi, both lovely
people.



The problem over this practice, at least in India, is that pollution in the
environment is killing off the vultures, and thus destroying the very
agents/vectors that will deal with dead corpses. It is, according to the
Guardian some weeks ago, a very real problem for the Parsi community.
One of the most famous members of the Parsi community here in Britain was the
late Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the pop group Queen.

"Peter James" wrote after Bob wrote
Followers of the ancient Persian religion Zoroastranism, know as Parsi's,
do
that, they simply leave their dead on platforms out in the open for
vultures
to consume, the bones are then powdered and that way nothing pollutes the
earth.
http://adaniel.tripod.com/parsi.htm
I've known an Indian Parsi and a Persian (Iranian) Parsi, both lovely
people.



The problem over this practice, at least in India, is that pollution in
the
environment is killing off the vultures, and thus destroying the very
agents/vectors that will deal with dead corpses. It is, according to the
Guardian some weeks ago, a very real problem for the Parsi community.
One of the most famous members of the Parsi community here in Britain was
the
late Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the pop group Queen.

Yes I've heard about that, certainly the pollution in North India,
especially Bombay and Delhi, is nasty. Most of Southern India is a different
story.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

On 1 Apr, 23:29, "JWBH" wrote:
Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead on the
ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and it had
disappeared.

I'd go with foxes, too. They eat a fair amount of carrion, (and a
surprising amount of fruit. But they are only suspect one: feral cats
are often that hungry.

Several larger birds take carrion: but they frequently eat at the
carcass, they don't often take it away: at the very least I'd expect
to see a lot of feathers left, unless they have young in the nest and
it's a bit early for that.

Don't rule out ravens or crows. Both will eat carrion and will fly away
with it.
--
Tammie
In Ontario, Canada, North of Lake Superior
http://community.webshots.com/user/thache


"JWBH" wrote in message
...
Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead on
the ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and it
had disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in taking
an already dead bird?

Malcolm wrote:

...

Rather than just "pollution in the environment", the vultures were
killed by a specific drug, diclofenac, being used to treat sick cattle.
It causes kidney failure and rapid death in the vultures. The drug is
now being phased out.

Diclofenac doesn't cure anything, it's just a pain killer. What a way to
run a farm!

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Jerry Avins wrote:
Malcolm wrote:

...

Rather than just "pollution in the environment", the vultures were
killed by a specific drug, diclofenac, being used to treat sick
cattle. It causes kidney failure and rapid death in the vultures.
The drug is now being phased out.

Diclofenac doesn't cure anything, it's just a pain killer. What a way
to run a farm!

Well, it is an effective anti-inflammatory: I don't know what else it
may once have been prescribed for (under the influence of incomplete
trials or of salesmen, or both, no doubt), but I'd be inclined to blame
salesmanship rather than the farmers.

--
Mike.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Apr 1, 11:29 pm, "JWBH" wrote:
Today I saw a starling drop out of a tree, and it appeared quite dead on the
ground. I came back about an hour later to pick up the corpse and it had
disappeared.

what might have happened? foxes roam about there, plus cats and also we
also have a lot of magpies around. but would they be interested in taking
an already dead bird?

I found a rat last year, dead without a head, in the garden, I wonder
what took that off!