Warning graphic, what predator killed this bird?

[AMaggio]

Came out to put the chickens away and found one of my bantams dead, inside out. Im thinking either hawk or owl but I'm not all that experienced with predators. Any thoughts?

 

[sourland]

It looks like a raptor kill to me, but generally there are more plucked feathers scattered around the kill so I am not certain.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

The kill looks more mammalian to me. Raptors tend to rip in one spot and there would be a big explosion of feathers. This is almost inside out. I'd say maybe a coyote, bobcat... something along those lines (4 legged)? But I'm not positive.

 

[AMaggio]

Could it be a possum? I do have one that roams around but it's never bothered the chickens before. Predators, land and air, have been suddenly been on the move. I live further out in the country but my friend lives downtown said she's seen coyotes and two fighting bald eagles in their park.

 

[AMaggio]

Also, it was inside out and perfectly clean.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Could it be a possum? I do have one that roams around but it's never bothered the chickens before. Predators, land and air, have been suddenly been on the move. I live further out in the country but my friend lives downtown said she's seen coyotes and two fighting bald eagles in their park.

Possums rarely kill live prey. People on here make them out to be the big bad, but they are pretty lazy and won't go through the effort of actually killing something unless they're starving to death.

It could be a raccoon though.

 

[AMaggio]

Well the head was still intact and i hear that's a raccoon's favorite part. For the possum, i wondered if maybe a hawk killed the bird, ate a bit, and then the possum found the kill and ate the rest.

 

[cmom]

If you have a camera put it up and most likely whatever it was will be back especially since it made a kill. I love my cameras.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Looks like a possum kill to me.