View Full Version : Help identifying a dead bird.
The barn cats got this and I have no idea what it is. It?s not anything I?m used to. It has small feet similar to a small chicken. It?s about the size of a grouse.
81814
Looks like a young turkey
beast556
06-06-2020, 17:41
Maybe a short eared owl. Kinda looks like there feather patern.
Bailey Guns
06-06-2020, 18:20
Common flicker maybe?
ETA: Wing pattern looks similar.
https://i.imgur.com/5Jfrcck.jpg
Its a Headless Thrush. Probably just stunned- leave it alone and it'll get up and fly away in a couple of hours.
BPTactical
06-06-2020, 20:56
He's dead Jim
TEAMRICO
06-06-2020, 21:09
What if it does not identify as a bird at all? Folks here are quick to assume....
Great-Kazoo
06-06-2020, 21:14
The barn cats got this and I have no idea what it is. It?s not anything I?m used to. It has small feet similar to a small chicken. It?s about the size of a grouse.
81814
Looks like a young hawk, or owl by the tail feathers, or what's left of them. Possibly a goshawk, or saw-whet owl? based on images on line.
Bailey Guns
06-06-2020, 21:20
Hawk or owl talons should be a lot larger than the ones on that bird, I'd think.
Bailey Guns
06-06-2020, 21:22
What if it does not identify as a bird at all? Folks here are quick to assume....
I chuckled...
newracer
06-06-2020, 23:45
Tail feathers look like turkey to me.
I can see both turkey and owl in it. Based on the body I would guess owl.
ChickNorris
06-07-2020, 06:45
To me, the foot pictured does seem rather ill equipped to be a bird that hunts, but I dont have a better guess than that.
Hummer knows birds really well. Curious what he'll make of it.
It's not dead. It's resting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnciwwsvNcc
It's pining for the fjords.
I agree with Chick. The feather pattern looked like owl to me, but the talons don't look like those of a raptor.
hollohas
06-07-2020, 08:32
Common flicker maybe?
ETA: Wing pattern looks similar.
https://i.imgur.com/5Jfrcck.jpgThis was my initial thought too.
buffalobo
06-07-2020, 09:36
"Dead bird, gonna put it on you, dead bird, gonna put it on you"....
I'd vote flicker, hard to tell size from pic.
Like Waldo, it appears to be a headless common flicker...
Its a Headless Thrush. Probably just stunned- leave it alone and it'll get up and fly away in a couple of hours.
hunterhawk
06-07-2020, 14:37
Im saying young owl.... nope im wrong.. after researching i agree with the masses.. flicker it is
It's not dead. It's resting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnciwwsvNcc
And now I have to dig through my CD anthology of Monty Python's syndicated episodes and re-watch (yet again) the Dead Parrot Sketch. Then I'll go for The Cheese Shop and probably just grab a bottle of Maker's Mark and watch The Meaning of Life. "Better get a bucket..."
Great-Kazoo
06-07-2020, 16:35
And now I have to dig through my CD anthology of Monty Python's syndicated episodes and re-watch (yet again) the Dead Parrot Sketch. Then I'll go for The Cheese Shop and probably just grab a bottle of Maker's Mark and watch The Meaning of Life. "Better get a bucket..."
You gonna invite the piranha brothers over ?
He nailed you head to a coffee table?
It’s a swallow. I’ll leave it to the crowd to decide European or African.
BPTactical
06-07-2020, 17:20
It’s a swallow. I’ll leave it to the crowd to decide European or African.
Well one thing for sure, it has no airspeed velocity.
That's not a bird at all, it's just a whole bunch of untied flies. Toss in some hooks, a bit of thread, a vise and some knowhow and it's 500+ flies.
We were learning towards flicker as well but it doesn’t have any color. If they’d just left the head it would be a lot easier. I agree that the feet don’t look any a raptor of any sort.
Bailey Guns
06-07-2020, 18:10
Dead Bird Lives Matter
Dead Bird Lives Matter
Seems a bit contradictory. The organization Bird Lives Matter (BLM) should get support without people even understanding what they're contributing to.
That, unfortunately, is a Common Poorwill. And not so common anymore. The brown and black patterned primary wing feathers and the complex mottling of the gray-black-white back, rump and tail feathers helps identify it. Look at the white tips to the outer tail feathers, often easily seen when the bird flushes from the ground. The description of it's small feet is also apt, but poorwills aren't anything close to a 2.5 lb. grouse. They weigh ~1.8 oz. Poorwills are noctournal aerial insectivores related to swifts but they roost on the ground or on fences during the day and fly at night. Thus they are easy prey to free-roaming and feral non native cats. Cats which would be responsibly keep indoors only.
Poorwills eat their weight every night in mosquitoes and other flying bugs. They are so named because their call is easily identifiable: poor-will, poor-will. They are a stocky, short-tailed bird, 7.75" long, with a 17" wingspan and very broad wings. I have found poorwills from the desert, prairie, farmland, to ponderosa pine and even in rocky alpine tundra areas. But they are not numerous and are one of the many bird species experiencing a population wide crash.
Btw, I think flicker was a good guess, and poorwills are sometimes mistaken for small owls because of their large black eyes, short tail and short decurved bill.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Poorwill/overview
@hummer. That looks like what it is. I’d never seen or heard of those.
ChickNorris
06-07-2020, 21:38
I was curious too & spent time on that site today trying to suss it with no luck. Thanks Hummer.
That, unfortunately, is a Common Poorwill. And not so common anymore. The brown and black patterned primary wing feathers and the complex mottling of the gray-black-white back, rump and tail feathers helps identify it. Look at the white tips to the outer tail feathers, often easily seen when the bird flushes from the ground. The description of it's small feet is also apt, but poorwills aren't anything close to a 2.5 lb. grouse. They weigh ~1.8 oz. Poorwills are noctournal aerial insectivores related to swifts but they roost on the ground or on fences during the day and fly at night. Thus they are easy prey to free-roaming and feral non native cats. Cats which would be responsibly keep indoors only.
Yeah, I never see birds here in Boulder and I know it?s because of the large number of neighborhood cats that are always on the loose around here. Pisses me off.
https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/
Common Poorwills and Common Nighthawks are in the group of birds called Nightjars, or goatsuckers. Least Nighthawks and Whip-poor-wills also but rarely occur in CO. The small feet of the poorwill is common to aerial insectivores like the related swifts, swallows and hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are in a group called apodiformes, meaning without feet. While they do have feet, they cannot walk or even step sideways to move along a branch but must fly up and then land again on their feet. The poorwills and nighthawks are remarkably well camouflaged. Here's a pic of one that was roosting mid day in our Palisade yard.
81829
hunterhawk
06-07-2020, 23:13
Ah that makes sense. I have seen those little guys before. Cool little birds. Used to hear whip poor wills in Michigan. Cool hearing those guys. I miss those and loons
Bailey Guns
06-08-2020, 04:27
Mystery solved and I learned something. Thanks.
BPTactical
06-08-2020, 08:16
Poorbird is done deaded
BushMasterBoy
06-08-2020, 11:05
Birds Lives Matter?
eddiememphis
06-08-2020, 11:32
Economically Disadvantaged Will
Retaliate and defund the cats? Small protest maybe?
Not to mention "The Upper Class Twit of the Year Contest".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hU5bWRx1x0
I like "The Meaning of Life" but the Mr. Creosote scenes are difficult to swallow around dinner time.
It’s not a whopper will it’s an Ill eagle.
I thought ill eagles weren?t really an issue?
Not to mention "The Upper Class Twit of the Year Contest".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hU5bWRx1x0
I like "The Meaning of Life" but the Mr. Creosote scenes are difficult to swallow around dinner time.
I see what you did there. An easy solution with a handy bucket.
JohnnyDrama
06-13-2020, 14:48
I went through this thread earlier. I couldn't find anything constructive to add so I let it be. Just now, as I scanned the screen, I thought I saw "Identify this dead bug". That got me thinking, we could have a whole "Identify this dead whatever". Lots of roadkill in my part of the world.
On second thought, maybe it's not such a good idea....
I went through this thread earlier. I couldn't find anything constructive to add so I let it be. Just now, as I scanned the screen, I thought I saw "Identify this dead bug". That got me thinking, we could have a whole "Identify this dead whatever". Lots of roadkill in my part of the world.
On second thought, maybe it's not such a good idea....
We need some kind of distraction from all the crazy shit out there. I'm all for it as long as it's not just "which neighbors cat is this?" [ROFL1]
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