Dead Baby Birds In Garden

[skycat 6,174]

No sure where to put this question, so here it is: this year, over the last few days, I've found several newly hatched tiny featherless baby birds dead in my garden. They are not under anywhere that could hold a nest, just right out in the open. They are only a couple of centimetres in length. How did they get there? Anyone know? Is it possible that first time parents would carry them out of the nest and reject them? We have no squirrels, no magpies or jays. We do have a couple of crows, but I can't see why they would take them from the nest and then just drop and leave them.

[fireman 11,095]

Could be another bird wanting the nesting spot,mice or other furry vermin .But in my own experiance of birds in my aviaries the only ones i ever had that chucked a chick out the nest are Bullfinches, the rest have just not fed a chick for some reason unknown to me and just let it die but have not removed them ever from the nest..

[downsview 448]

Cuckoo ?

[skycat 6,174]

Too early for cuckoos yet, apart from which it is the baby cuckoo which pushes the other birds out, and so the dead ones would be found under the nest. I was wondering if it was possible for an inexperienced parent bird that had been sitting on the nest to somehow 'pick up' a fledgling, get it tangled up with its feet, and then drop it away from the nest? Fanciful?

[North Briton 31]

a few birdy people are reporting chicks dead in the nest this morning after last nights frost...parents will carry them away and drop them..

[skycat 6,174]

a few birdy people are reporting chicks dead in the nest this morning after last nights frost...parents will carry them away and drop them..

That makes sense, though we only had a frost last night: this morning I found a dead chick. The others were found over the last few days when the nights hadn't been anywhere near freezing. Or maybe they got chilled as we have had some rain recently. Thanks for the answers.

 

Edited to add: just found this: parent bird removing dead chick from nest: bit long: forward to near the end of film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6a7aNjE4fU

[taz2010 1,297]

parents carrying them of

[fireman 11,095]

parents carrying them of

But have you had that done in your flights mate?(apart from bullies),as i haven't ever found a chick dead out the nest but have found them dead and thye had been dead a few days still in the nest and the rest of the chicks just sat on top of it,,

[tong po 129]

I watched a magpie today taking young sparrows from a nest.

[downsview 448]

A cat emptied a black birds nest in neighbours garden left the little bodies strewn around the area

[morton 5,368]

No sure where to put this question, so here it is: this year, over the last few days, I've found several newly hatched tiny featherless baby birds dead in my garden. They are not under anywhere that could hold a nest, just right out in the open. They are only a couple of centimetres in length. How did they get there? Anyone know? Is it possible that first time parents would carry them out of the nest and reject them? We have no squirrels, no magpies or jays. We do have a couple of crows, but I can't see why they would take them from the nest and then just drop and leave them.

If predated they are eaten,dead nestlings are often discarded by their parents.

[downsview 448]

Too early for cuckoos yet, apart from which it is the baby cuckoo which pushes the other birds out, and so the dead ones would be found under the nest. I was wondering if it was possible for an inexperienced parent bird that had been sitting on the nest to somehow 'pick up' a fledgling, get it tangled up with its feet, and then drop it away from the nest? Fanciful?

 

Rod hull getting back at emu for pushing him off the roof ?