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Field Cameras Catch Deer Eating Birds—Wait, Why Do Deer Eat Birds?
Gizmodo ^ | 4 March, 2015 | Esther Inglis-Arkell

Posted on 05/09/2017 9:10:13 AM PDT by marktwain

Deer aren’t the slim, graceful vegans we thought they were. Scientists using field cameras have caught deer preying on nestling song birds. And it’s not just deer. Herbivores the world over may be supplementing their diets.

When researchers in North Dakota set up “nest cams” over the nests of song birds, they expected to see a lot of nestlings and eggs get taken by ground squirrels, foxes, and badgers. Squirrels hit thirteen nests, but other meat-eaters made a poor showing. Foxes and weasels only took one nest each. Know what fearsome animal out-did either of those two sleek, resourceful predators?

White-tailed deer.

These supposed herbivores placidly ate living nestlings right out of the nest. And if you’re thinking that it must be a mistake, that the deer were chewing their way through some vegetation and happened to get a mouthful of bird, think again. Up in Canada, a group of ornithologists were studying adult birds. In order to examine them closely, the researchers used “mist-nets.” These nets, usually draped between trees, are designed to trap birds or bats gently so they can be collected, studied, and released. When a herd of deer came by, they deer walked up to the struggling birds and ate them alive, right out of the nets.

(Excerpt) Read more at io9.gizmodo.com ...


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; US: North Dakota
KEYWORDS: bambi; birds; carnivore; deer; herbivore; meat; mistnets; omnivore; whitetails
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To: marktwain

I sew a deer order a big mac at the drive thru window.


21 posted on 05/09/2017 9:32:16 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: blueunicorn6

On drives, we would see Magpies eating roadkill Skunks.

Dad would say, “Smell what I had for breakfast — Aaaaaaaah.”


22 posted on 05/09/2017 9:33:29 AM PDT by Scrambler Bob (Brought to you from Turtle Island, otherwise known as 'So-Called North America')
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To: blueunicorn6

He said the gophers were eating the dead gopher.

Gophers are cannibals.


Cannibalism is extremely common in nature.


23 posted on 05/09/2017 9:33:48 AM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain
Bambi would have killed and eaten Thumper if he had the chance.


24 posted on 05/09/2017 9:34:50 AM PDT by COBOL2Java ("Game over, man, game over!" (my advice to DemocRATs))
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To: Scrambler Bob

Our Dads must have gone to school together.


25 posted on 05/09/2017 9:35:24 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: marktwain

And at our family reunions when the chicken is gone.


26 posted on 05/09/2017 9:36:39 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Red Badger

Well, they didn’t used to until a deer came along by the name of Colonel Sanders Bambi. Introduced the entire species to that special secret mix of herbs and spices.

It was hoof lickin good!


27 posted on 05/09/2017 9:37:49 AM PDT by Adder (Mr. Franklin: We are trying to get the Republic back!)
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To: marktwain

Saw a raven catch and kill an immature ground squirrel once.


28 posted on 05/09/2017 9:38:23 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: marktwain

Tastes like chicken!


29 posted on 05/09/2017 9:40:41 AM PDT by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Ravens will kill a calf. They start by eating the eyes, once crippled they go to brain tissue.

I have a young fellow I know that is a special predator hunter for the Agriculture Department. He has seen it all and his stories are fascinating.


30 posted on 05/09/2017 9:42:05 AM PDT by KC Burke (If all the world is a stage, I would like to request my lighting be adjusted.)
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To: marktwain

Tastes like chicken!


31 posted on 05/09/2017 9:43:54 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: Tijeras_Slim

I’d like to get some video of Sand Hill Cranes predating on mice, gophers, and such, and present it to those who say it is immoral to hunt Sand Hill Cranes.

The preview would be of mice peacefully munching on corn, or some such. Then the frightening shadow, the fearful run, the monster beak, the swallowing alive...

You could almost make a Japanese movie out of it!


32 posted on 05/09/2017 9:44:34 AM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

My brother once captured video of a Great Blue Heron eating a crab. Picked its legs off and ate them, one by one. Then swallowed the body whole.


33 posted on 05/09/2017 9:49:25 AM PDT by NorthMountain (The Democrats ... have lost their grip on reality -DJT)
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To: marktwain

A moose bit my sister once.

5.56mm


34 posted on 05/09/2017 9:50:40 AM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Freemeorkillme

blue herons are carnivores


35 posted on 05/09/2017 9:54:51 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: Jamestown1630

I believe in diversity...on the table. I’ll eat anything as long as it is good.


36 posted on 05/09/2017 9:55:27 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Willie Sutton went into robbing banks and Hillary Clinton went into politics)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

ravens are omnivores


37 posted on 05/09/2017 9:55:39 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: BestPresidentEver

Go to this link re White Tail Deer Populations:

http://www.i-maps.com/Qdma/frame/default1024_ie.asp?C=48449&LinkID=0&NID=0&cmd=map&TL=100000&GL=010100&MF=11000


38 posted on 05/09/2017 9:57:16 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (100+ days without Hilliarly/Huma as POTUS! Thanks, President Trump for this great reality!)
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To: Adder

Animals do a lot of stuff we don't see....................

39 posted on 05/09/2017 9:58:13 AM PDT by Red Badger (Profanity is the sound of an ignorant mind trying to express itself.............)
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To: central_va

that deer was a burgivores


40 posted on 05/09/2017 9:58:34 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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