Last spring I stepped out of the house and saw an eastern type squirrel walking
away with a junco in its mouth. I don't know if the junco died first and the
squirrel found it or if the squirrel captured it, I would guess the former. It
climbed up a large big-leaf maple and out of sight so I don't know if it dined
on the bird or not. It was a surprise to me as I have never seen a squirrel
with a bird before.
Gerard Lillie
Portland, OR
________________________________
From: Dan Gleason <dan-gleason@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 9:25 AM
To: woodenapple@xxxxxxxx
Cc: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [obol] Re: Squirrel eats bird
Several years ago I took some photos of Beechy Ground-Squirrels feeding on a
Rock Dove that had been run over by a car in the parking lot of a park in
southern California. I have also seen Western Gray Squirrels at a turkey
carcass in the middle of the road near our home here in south Eugene. How much
they actually ate, I'm not sure because they had to continually run to avoid
on-coming cars.
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Dan Gleason
Dan Gleason
Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited of Eugene
Ornithology Instructor, University of Oregon
dan-gleason@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Apr 12, 2017, at 9:01 AM, "woodenapple@xxxxxxxx" <woodenapple@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Obolists,
Word of warning for the squeamish: The following isn't breakfast fare.
Just a few minutes ago, around 8:30 a.m., while I was drinking my coffee and
looking out into our N. Eugene/Santa Clara-area backyard, a Yellow-rumped
Warbler struck our glass sliding door with enough force to kill itself on
impact. Within a couple of minutes, before I had a chance to remove the
remains, one of our resident red squirrels came up and inspected the dead
bird. After just a couple of sniffs, it proceeded to consume the entire head
with me watching from less than two meters away! I was curious how much of
the bird the squirrel would eat but am unable to report this since it ran off
with the rest of its prize.
I've heard reports of squirrels consuming nestlings, but I'd never actually
observed any carnivorous behavior until now. I don't know whether it's
noteworthy that the behavior was as a scavenger rather than predatory.
Rudi
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