Thanks, Tweets, for your responses to my headless-robin ponderings. Several of you thought that the bird was likely hit by a car and then scavenged, either by a crow or something else - one of you asked about whether or not there were berry bushes nearby that the robin could have been feeding on when a fast-moving car scared it off the berries and into the street, causing an impact between the two. I realized that, yes, there are both pyracantha and cotoneaster shrubs with ripe berries right now, alongside the street. Therefore, I decided that this explanation does seem most likely and I put my questions to rest,this solution confirmed even more, when, after leaving my computer this morning and going outside to the street, I noticed that there were literally dozens of robins calling out and flying in and out of most of the trees and bushes along the street - it was about 10:30 a.m. They were indeed, eating berries as well as moving from bush to tree to bush a lot and having to cross the street to do so. All that was missing was a car with an oblivious driver, or going fast, up or down the street. Verdict: car guilty and a scavenger (crow?) opportunistic :-) I suppose this wouldn't 'fly' in court, with no (as yet) eyewitness found, making the 'evidence' a tad circumstantial.

It was also suggested by one of you, that large owls certainly do eat the brains of some of their bird prey, as the brain is found to be tasty and nutritional - beaucoup protein? Birdbrains are good for something, then :-) Any suggested references on this aspect of predator food choices?

By the way the robin body is no longer anywhere to be seen (in my woods). Nature was served.


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net