what killed this grouse?

[mac1983]

Seen a grouse in my yard yesterday, went up to the shop and there was this grouse laying there dead. There was a 2" hole in it's back end and the guts were gone. The head was still on no obvious signs of chewing, you can see some bare skin around it's neck though. No blood anywhere just some feathers laying around it, no tracks anywhere. What are your opinions on what killed it?

[IR_mike]

weasel or goshawk?

[Sooner]

Big Bird of prey? Dropped while flying?

[MAC]

I don't know but have found the same thing myself. There was a hole in the back looking in and the chest cavity completely empty. Found on top of a steel garbage can. You can see some blood flecks on the lid, whatever happened was finished on the Lid.

MAC

[Opa]

Quite possibly a raven? Nasty birds to say the least. I have seen them take out spruce chickens picking gravel on the road. A cloud of feathers, and a dead bird.

[mac1983]

[IMG][/IMG],[IMG][/IMG],[IMG][/IMG]

[canadiantdi]

Ooh, that's nasty. I vote raven also. I saw one pick up a small bunny and eat it on top of a house. The screams still haunt me lol

[raised by wolves]

I have seen ravens and hawks do the same thing to grouse and ducks.

[Icehole]

mink or weasel

[mac1983]

Am thinking Great Horned Owl, hes been around for awhile

[South west trappin RG]

Weasel

[HunterDave]

My guess is a weasel as well. The bare skin on the neck is likely where he bit and choked it out and then took the easy route to the organs through the soft underbelly.

[Red Bullets]

IMO I think the grouse was killed by a bird. Either a goshawk, eagle or raven. The feathers on the ground indicate the grouse was plucked, which is what a raptor does. And raptors eat the heart, lungs and other organs.

A weasel will usually only eat the top of the head and brain. Owls only ate the heads on domestic chickens we had on the farm.

[partsman]

Alien

[KegRiver]

Weasel.

A bird of prey would not clean up the blood and it would start feeding on the breast.

Weasel love blood and will lap up every drop. And they start feeding on the belly.
And they are light enough to not leave visible tracks if the snow is a bit hard.

[Red Bullets]

Maybe it was a weasel doing an air attack from the back.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Maybe it was a weasel doing an air attack from the back.

That picture still amazes me that it was not shooped.

[mac1983]

[IMG][/IMG],[IMG][/IMG],

There was a long slice along the lower neck where i have the feathers peeled back, couldn't find any puncture wounds, not a drop of blood anywhere.

The tailfeathers almost look like they were severed off but the spine wasn't.

Best i can tell it happened at night not sure was birds are active at night.

Still not sure of the culprit.

The flying weasel maybe...

[elkdump]

Originally Posted by South west trappin RG

Weasel

Yep

[trooper]

Chupicabara?������

[honda610]

Rachel Notly...... lol no idea neat find

[Gerv]

I came across a hawk feeding on a grouse once and it looked just like that. Was surprised that it didn't go for the breast meat first.

[mac1983]

looking like the general concensus is weasel i'd have to agree.

[HunterDave]

How did the breast taste?

[Austin]

Cardiac arrest. LoL

What would just take the guts and not the breast meat? You'd think a bird/raptor would take the guts last,,, my guess a small animal scavenger went thru it possibly killed by something bigger like an owl, hawk etc.

What happens to birds when they hit high power lines? Anyone see what that does to them?

[rockymountaintrapper]

check out the plucked feathers are the ends sharp and appear to be bit off or are they squished but otherwise intact ? this would indicate a raptor plucking with its beak just my 2 cents from what I have seen over the years

[KegRiver]

I thought you folks might find this interesting.

This is a Marsh Hawk feeding on a Shoveler Duck it had killed.

Here it is plucking it's catch.



And a closeup of the duck, you can see the breast bone is partially exposed.



I took these photos a couple of years ago. It's not the first time I've seen this but it was the closest I was able to get while the predator was feeding. At one point I was within twenty feet of the feeding Hawk.

Most of the time they would fly long before I got close enough to photograph them feeding, but the way they fed was always the same.

Even the Eagles I've seen on a kill fed the same way. But of course, that does not mean they never feed differently. Anything is possible.

All I know is that I've seen a lot of Weasel kills and they all look very similar to the subject of this thread and I've seen perhaps a dozen raptor kills and they all looked like the photos I just posted.

I can only draw one conclusion from this, but I accept that it may not be a correct assumption.

[J0HN_R1]

Electrocution ?

[thumper]

I'm with you Keg. I've seen a few bird kills by eagles, falcons and hawks. Some with the raptor still on it. All spent some time carefully plucking the breast before beginning to eat it. Once (goshawk on a mallard) while the prey was still pretty lively and trying to escape.

I've never seen a weasel kill, so I can't comment on that, but I have seen a wolverine kill (same weasel family) and they just ate their way in, starting at the anus - similar to these grouse photos.

[MAC]

This one went in through the back near the spine with very few feathers plucked. Chest cavity empty, breast not touched. Hole seems to be the right size for a weasel.

MAC