There's a killer on the loose....
My yard is small and suburban, not bordering any forests (although in relative close proximity to a small preserve, so I do get some critters from there). Along with thinking about my yard as a habitat, I've also been thinking this week about how it's a small piece of a larger habitat for many things. There are lots of creatures that live in my neighborhood, but my yard is only one part of their territory, or stop in their day. I know I get a lot of birds that only visit occasionally during the day for a quick meal for example, but they don't have their nests or roosts in my yard.
Apparently my yard is also a part of the greater habitat for a cold-blooded killer... Yesterday when walking around and checking out what's growing in my gardens and lawn, I came across a crime scene. Lots of what seemed to be robin feathers were strewn around a skull that was pretty much picked clean. No other body parts, just that small skull and feathers there as a calling card, letting us know what that murderer is capable of!
I never did find any other bones or body parts, and I'm left wondering what creature did this that calls my yard part of its habitat. The obvious possibilities to me are a neighborhood cat, or the sharp-shinned hawk that sometimes visits and sits in the rhododendron I found this massacre under. Would they leave behind only the skull after picking it clean though? Or did something else come around after and pick things clean?
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Oh my goodness!!! This was fascinating to read!! I don't think birds of prey usually will leave a skull, they tend to eat the animal head first, I am not sure what this would be but I don't think a cat because they will usually take their prey with them. I can't wait to hear more about this tommorrow.
In my neighborhood there was a rash of headless rabbits. My dog found one in our yard. very clean decapitation. after multiple discussions, I thought it was likely the work of a great Horned Owl, also heard in the neighborhood. the heads were never seen and the bunny bodies untouched. Maybe what you saw is what happens to the heads of critters thus killed and the bodies are far off in someone else's yard.
@maryjb This is a great suggestion. This could most definitely be the case
Oh, that's interesting! I never found anything more (which I'm kind of relieved about, I don't like finding dead animal parts!).
that is so cool, I think an owl could have been involved but yet there are so many possibilities with spring arrived and everyone is so hungry! how could you tell that the feathers were robin? And I assume the skull is aviary as well?
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