I suspect it died of natural causes and got tangled up in the blackberry
canes. Maybe trying to avoid a Cooper's Hawk.
As a teenager, I once had a covey of Bobwhite Quail flying 50 or so feet
over my head in Texas, and one just died in mid-air, falling to the ground
near where I was standing. No obvious reason except natural cause (heart
attack?). I clearly remember picking it up and admiring it for some time.
Roger Freeman
On Sat, Jan 21, 2017 at 5:19 PM, Andy Thomas <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Just a guess, but it seems to me unlikely that a starling, or other kind
of bird, would die from being impaled by blackberry thorns. I think it must
have died from another cause -- perhaps cold -- and its carcass simply got
snagged in the vines.
------------------------------
*From:* Marcia <mimz607@xxxxxxxxx>
*To:* obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Sent:* Saturday, January 21, 2017 3:31 PM
*Subject:* [obol] Impaled Starling - New link to picture
Please try THIS LINK
<https://www.snapfish.com/library/share?w=snapfish_us&c=snapfish&l=en_US#Uk_2KqjJ2t4pcMNpwMtKHw/AUS/27941422090070/SNAPFISH>
to
the photo. My apologies for the double posting.
If this doesn’t work, would someone please give me a photo sharing option.
I am new to this.
On Jan 21, 2017, at 9:29 AM, Marcia <mimz607@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Greeting Obolites,
We found this starling
<https://www.snapfish.com/library/photos?website=snapfish_us&cobrand=snapfish&locale=en_US#state=%7B%22pgvw%22:%22siav%22,%22aid%22:122799034487070%7D>impaled
on a blackberry vine this morning.
What do you think happened?
Would a shrike be able to do this? I didn’t think that starlings were on
it’s diet list….I have never seen a shrike on our property.
Or…did it just fly into the vine and impale itself on a critical point?
Inquiring minds want to know your thoughts!
Happy Saturday,
Marcia Maffei in N. Eugene
