UNBELIEVABLE but True! (see photo)

Did eaten songbird claw its way through hawk?

It's not clear, however, if the partially digested meal, one claw somehow managing to get back out from a terribly wrong location, had anything to do with the hawk's death.

The article say's hawks usually leave behind the legs and heads of their meals. This poor dead sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) hawk evidently did not! It looks to me like it DID cause the hawk's demise.
Just wondering if this hawk lost its mother at a young age and therefore never learned proper kill technics?

See full article and photo at link below. Warning Graphic!

www.msnbc.msn.com...

*SIGH*

OK here is a breakdown of what exactly took place here.

Hawk eats bird.
Hawks often swallow large chunks of their meal whole.... not uncommon at all.

Hawk is killed by car/truck.

Trauma to the hawks chest/crop area provides an outlet for swallowed food upon impact.

Leg protrudes from chest.


Simple.

There is no supernatural activity going on here.

Sometimes, I do feel sad for the predator, in this case the hawk, who I'm sure was hungry. I picked up from the photo that perhaps this hawk was too young.

reply to post by Creedo


I know a hawk will swallow a soft little mouse whole, but have you actually seen one swallow a bird whole with sharp claws and all? I haven't they usually rip off the head and feet.
If it was killed by a car/truck like you say....Why wasn't there any head injury? Experts can't figure it out so it must not be that simple.

I wasn't sure where to put this article, but it's strange to say the least.

Yes I have seen numerous hawks eat prey in large chunks. I have seen them eat an entire snake whole and still alive. Quite often in fact. And a head injury does not need to be present for a fatal side impact collision with a large moving object.

I have raised birds for over 5 years now and trust me on this... the crop area of a birds throat and upper chest area is very thin. If it were to be full of fresh food... especially food with claws and a beak stuffed in there... it would not take alot of force for one of those claws to pop through and let the impact pressure push the rest of the food out that hole.

As a vehicle impact is very rare it does happen from time to time when birds are in persuit of prey and get led into traffic. Especially around bridges and blind corners with alot of cover like bridges, buildings and trees.

Now what would be UNBELIEVABLE is if the songbirds are learning to lead hawks to oncomming traffic to meet their doom.

Originally posted by pikypiky
Sometimes, I do feel sad for the predator, in this case the hawk, who I'm sure was hungry. I picked up from the photo that perhaps this hawk was too young.

The term "predator", even though semantically correct, is so full of negative connotations that I personally don't think it should be used for any animal - other than man, that is.
After all, animals don't have supermarkets to buy their meals...


P.S. I am not arguing with your post, by the way.

reply to post by MountainStar


I read about this last night, pretty weird! That sparrow wasn't going out without a fight was he?! And what are the chances a person who was on their way to a vet would find this?