Twitchers watch robin served rare

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3545679.stm ^

[nobody_knows]

Birdwatchers from all over Britain who gathered in Grimsby to catch sight of a rare American robin were horrified to see her eaten by a passing sparrowhawk.

[pax_et_bonum]

From BBC article:

AMERICAN ROBIN
Scientific name: Turdus migratorius

I think they've confused this robin with Osama.

[Reo]

"The robin, whose scientific name Turdus migratorius derives from its long-distance travels "

Too funny! Sparrowhawk eats Wandering Turd"

[RightFin]

OMGosh that squirrel pic is funny! Poor guy! I have been feeding birds for a couple of years now and would love to have a squirrel. I think the word is out in Squirrel-land that our property is not a safe place ever since my hubby shot the one squirrel that came around a few years ago. He was acting so darn strange. We later found out that was normal.

[sharktrager]

Birdwatchers from all over Britain who gathered in Grimsby to catch sight of a rare American robin were horrified to see her eaten by a passing sparrowhawk.
They were still setting up their cameras when the predator swooped down from a row of drab factories and warehouses on an industrial estate.

The young bird, from the southern US, "didn't really live to enjoy her moment of fame," a twitcher told the Guardian.

The robin's vivid red breast made her an obvious candidate for a lunch date.

"It was a terrible moment," Graham Appleton, of the British Trust for Ornithology, which had spread news of the bird's arrival, told the newspaper.

Long-distance travels

But the trust's migration watch organiser Dawn Balmer was more philosophical.

"Most of these rare visitors eventually succumb anyway to cold weather or a lack of food, if not predation," she told the paper.

The robin, whose scientific name Turdus migratorius derives from its long-distance travels within America was probably blown across the Atlantic after being "caught up in a jetstream", Mr Appleton added.

A member of the thrush family, with oily-black wings and tail, American robin are as big as British blackbirds.

AMERICAN ROBIN
Scientific name: Turdus migratorius
Average size: 21.5 cm
Lives: Southern, central and eastern US
Eats: Insects, fruit, worms

[RightFin]

Uh - I meant the SQUIRREL was acting strange... NOT my hubby!

[Nebullis]

I can't imagine that the American Robin would not survive there, it's the perfect sort of habitat for them. I would worry that it would compete with the European blackbird. The blackbird is very similar in behavior, feeding and nesting patterns, even its song is similar, except for a little tweet-tweet at the end.

[nuconvert]

I was kind of avoiding this thread.
Had a feeling there'd be some yucky stuff.
I was right.
Some funny stuff, too.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Sometimes laughter, through shock, is even more funny. (Twisted black humor.)

[NonValueAdded]

nice weathervane

[NonValueAdded]

the squirrel or your husband?

[RightFin]

Definitely the squirrel!

[mhking]

"Oh! Look at the pretty--[CRUNCH!]"

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[CommandoFrank]

I had a rabbits head fall from the sky while getting out of my car for work one day last year

Perhaps it was Jimmy Carter's 'killer attack rabbit'...

[Allegra]

I shall refrain from the obvious joke.

I really pitched a slow one right down the middle, didn't I?

Sleep deprivation rules. :)

[Fedora]

Uh-oh, someone's not gonna be too happy about this. . .

[CommandoFrank]

Graphic prrof that lightning rods are dangerous devices willing to attack squirrels at any moment. Beware of guns that kill, SUV's that attack and now lightning rods.