My velociraptors just dismembered a dove! :(

Went to collect eggs this morning and wondered why there was a huge ant trail in the run, so I followed it and found a dove's head, leg, and a pile of feathers.

We used to get lots of doves in the run looking for food, but this is the first one I've seen in there since I put in the treadle feeder. Usually if one gets stuck in there I just go in and let it out, but this must have happened before I woke up and since the dove couldn't find his way out again my girls thought they'd have a protein packed breakfast this morning.

Suddenly those beady little eyes and sharp beaks seem a tad more sinister this morning... *hums theme to Jaws*

 

I'm pretty sure it wasn't another predator. My cat was sitting outside the run (nose pressed right up to it LOL) looking rather annoyed he couldn't get to the bird. The run was fully intact, no sign of break-ins, and my girls were all acting calm, plus my hubby has been up since dawn and said all he heard all morning was normal birdsong, no sounds of alarm.

The only other visitors we've had in the run has been possums (not the meat-eating Opossums you all are familiar with, just the regular Aussie ones that eat fruit and leaves), and since I sealed the gap between the bird wire and the tree where they were getting in they haven't been back.

 

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