Hi, all,

About a month or so ago, I found two dead birds under my feeders...a male
junco and a female house finch. Both had been pecked in the head. There was no
other damage to them, other than they were very very dead. I have a great
number of raptors here, but this didn't look like raptor work..why wouldn't
they have carried the bird away?

Then, this morning, while doing my bird feeder survey, I watched as the
mourning doves I have...about fifty or so..were feeding in the rain. OF course
there were half a dozen chasing the females. In amongst the doves were several
juncos. WIthout any reason that I could see, one feeding dove suddenly
attacked a junco, managing to peck it hard in the head, but not killing it.
The junco flew off a ways, then sat on the ground for awhile and then left.
The dove continued feeding until the flock flew away..

Has anyone else ever seen such behavior? I think the was responsible for
killing the junco and the house finch.
Michelle