Where are the dead birds?

There are millions of dead birds every month. Billions if you consider the whole planet.

But how many dead birds have you seen as you navigate your way through the natural world?

I sense a conspiracy. Who is taking these dead birds somewhere else, and why?

a reply to: droid56
I'm not a birder, but I know people who are and they take all the dead birds the find to a lab where they are tested for avian flu and other things in the contagion world. As for me, I rarely see a dead bird unless it's a young'un that fell to the ground and didn't make it.

a reply to: droid56

I see many on my lawn. I have a cat.

a reply to: droid56

We currently have an Exact-Dozen ... CATs.
( NONE are more special than any other ).

Yep, 12.

Less than two years ago, we lost one cat Jonus (5 years of age) ... ( to natural causes? )

This "one cat" lost a lot of weight over a three-or-four week period before we forced ourselves ( teary-eyed ) to the vet for a final-solution.

Last year, Josey (2 years of age) started losing weight similarly. Josey recovered after 2 months of holding our breaths.

RECENTLY ...

Josey began losing weight again AND ( a few weeks later ) a 3rd kitty Houdini ( 5 months of age) wasn't growing nor gaining weight the way his near-exact-twin Malcom was. Houdini 4lbs, Malcom 7lbs. These twins were the exact same size and weight at 3-months of age.

Both Josey and Houdini were given 2 different antibiotics.

Josey started with a Raw-n-Red mouth THUS refusing to eat. I forced-fed Josey for 3-Weeks with some "Milk-Replacement" from Walmart. She got better after a week of a general-antibiotic ... BUT ... she wasn't interested in eating Wet-nor-Dry Cat-Food. The only food I could get her to eat was Cooked-Chicken ... ( I cut this chicken into small pieces ). Last week, shes back to normal ( and Hooray! ).

Houdini-the-kitten had developed a temperature of 105. Houdini was placed on a Strong-n-Expensive Antibiotic Vibramyacin. Houdini would eat some Wet-Catfood but not any Dry-Catfood. I would supplement him with the same "Milk-Replacement" from Walmart. After 4 days on this antibiotic, he began regressing and LOGICALLY I discontinued it and began a more frequent milk force-feed. Houdini has just now returned to his prior state before the antibiotics. A combination of Force-Feed ( every 6 hours ) and Wet-Food seems to be working BUT we do continue to have a ways to go ... ( and the reason that I'm up all hours of the day-n-night ).

I said all of the above to demonstrate the Degree-o-Frustration-n-Determination to GUESS what's going on.

After dwelliing over the situation for weeks, I remembered that both Josey and Houdini came in with "BIRDS" just prior to their illnesses.

It was only last night that my wife and I had determined that IF ANY of our 12 cats come in with birds ( dead-or-alive ) that we will forcefully take the birds away.

We THINK the birds are eating something poisonous ... CAUSING ... the birds to be easier-catch for the cats.

We live in a Farm-n-Ranching area AND within the last two months was the ideal-time for ... Planting.
( cotton and grain seeds are coated with a poison; typically cotton is planted; it is possible something new could be planted ).

We had never experienced any problem with the cats-n-birds ... PRIOR 2 years ago with Jonus.

( We are CONFIDENT that whatever they have/had is NOT contagious )

-
NOTE to Dimithae:
We bring ALL of our cats indoors prior to night-fall.
(because of the coyotes and owls - we've never lost a cat to a critter)
.

Dead critters don't stick around long in these parts. Coyotes, possums, wild hogs, buzzards, ants...they clean up the scene pretty quick.

originally posted by: droid56
There are millions of dead birds every month. Billions if you consider the whole planet.

But how many dead birds have you seen as you navigate your way through the natural world?

I sense a conspiracy. Who is taking these dead birds somewhere else, and why?

If they die on the ground, cats get them, (or Ants, insects, dogs, natures funeral directors!)

If they die in the air, well, look up, see how many you can find.



Perhaps you could work out the average bird deaths per day and divide that by the earths land surface area and work out why you simply do not see a lot of them. Once on the ground they get eaten pretty damn quickly. Don't forget to count the ones that are dead and still flying.

P

Carrion-feeding insects

Lots of lovely pictures to make you spew.

originally posted by: skunkape23
Dead critters don't stick around long in these parts. Coyotes, possums, wild hogs, buzzards, ants...they clean up the scene pretty quick.

I would say this is true of most parts minus maybe the coyotes and wild hogs. We have them here to but one of the things that keeps those creatures around are dead birds and other dead animals (squirrels and rabbits, etc). Nature is pretty good at cleaning itself up.

a reply to: FarleyWayne

Well thats a major issue right there. Cats will typically live to 16-18 years indoors but only 5 max if let outdoors. There is just too much for them to get hurt or killed outside for them to be out there.And as far as disease,forget it.

There is feline leukemia,Rabies,distemper,plague,and feline infectious anemia,just to name a few killers of cats.If they aren't up to date on shots,yeah they are susceptible to all kinds of things. You'll have a never ending hospital going with letting them outside,not even worth it.

My mom had a ton of cats and thats all we did is feed them and take them to vets and medicate them. Had several die of feline leuk,and the one cat used up several of his 9 lives by getting run over by a car and then contracting feline infectious anemia.

He was down to skin and bones and we couldn't keep the medicine in him,he would vomit it up so the antibiotics don't help if you can't keep them down them. He finally pulled out of it at the last minute and started eating again,but it was really close.

a reply to: FarleyWayne

hmm, monsanto strikes again...?

kudo's on having so many cats & loving them
(give an update in a few months time if possible please?)

dogs have owners, cats have staff

Coyotes, cougars, not sure if black bears eat dead animals, my cats, hawks, eagles, thats what we have over here, and a long winter. I see dead birds a few times a week, cat brought me back a dead squirel this morning, no head was attached to it, i asked my cat what happened, he just smiled.

I have cats so I see dead birds in my yard

When I used to walk along busy roads I saw dead birds then. They get hit by cars.
You do see them if you walk. You have to walk with your head down mind you

around here foxes etc will easily scavenge a dead bird if a cat aint had it already

a reply to: droid56

I see dead birds. However, I do not see them lying around for long. When something dies, it is very rarely lying around for all that long, before some enterprising animal carries its body off to be consumed, and even the pieces of a bird can then be picked over by insects.

The other thing you have to consider, is that bird bodies are some of the least dense by volume, of any species of bone possessing animals in the world. They are also usually fairly light by necessity of needing to be able to fly without tiring too quickly. This means that they break down faster, so if you factor in scavenger activity and decomposition rates, it is not so strange that you are not constantly walking across a carpet of putrifying avian carcasses.