Dead Shredded Red

[RednekF350]

On Tuesday after work I was running the dog in the woods across the street. Murph was ranging a little bit and I gave him a yell to turn him back to me. As he turned, a red tailed hawk swooped down out of a tree and flew low to the across the fire cut that we were on and disappeared to my right. We continued along the cut and when I reached the spot where the hawk flew out of the tree, I saw feathers everywhere. It was a dead red tailed hawk and it had been shredded. The head was completely gone and not in the scattered mess.

I never thought red tailed hawks would attack there own species but I still don't know if the hawk that took flight was the culprit. We do have a lot of owls but bot sure if they would take on a red tailed hawk.

On Wednesday after work the carcass was in the same position I left it on Tuesday but on Thursday it was scattered more than on Tuesday. I should have put my game camera out Tuesday night to see what would return but I didn't.
Interesting.

Do not expand thumbnails if you do not want to see non-living miscellaneous bird parts.

 

[Rooftree]

Scott; looking at Google, a great horned owl have been known to kill red-tailed hawks. Back in February, as I was exploring the Sykes Branch near Coyle Field (this was in the area where we crossed the Sykes Branch in our recent PBX Trip) I found three headless pheasants, two on the ground and one in a tree branch. All at the same spot

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[RednekF350]

Scott; looking at Google, a great horned owl have been known to kill red-tailed hawks. Back in February, as I was exploring the Sykes Branch near Coyle Field (this was in the area where we crossed the Sykes Branch in our recent PBX Trip) I found three headless pheasants, two on the ground and one in a tree branch. All at the same spot

. View attachment 12634

I’m leaning toward the great horned owl Ron. I think the hawk that I spooked may have been mourning the loss.

 

[MuckSavage]

It's common for Owls to pluck the heads off of Pheasant. My dogs used to bring me a headless Ringneck & would look at me like " Look, I did sumpin' good".
I didn't think an Owl would take on a hawk either but what do I know?

 

[RednekF350]

Ran Murph tonight and everything but a few feathers were gone. Murph wasn't convinced.
Yesterday morning most of the carcass remnants were still there. Nature's cleanup crews are amazing.

 

[ecampbell]

Nature's cleanup crews are amazing.

Nature is amazing. In 2 days a deer is skin and bone. Without scavengers and bacteria we would be awash in corpses.

 

[old jersey girl]

On Tuesday after work I was running the dog in the woods across the street. Murph was ranging a little bit and I gave him a yell to turn him back to me. As he turned, a red tailed hawk swooped down out of a tree and flew low to the across the fire cut that we were on and disappeared to my right. We continued along the cut and when I reached the spot where the hawk flew out of the tree, I saw feathers everywhere. It was a dead red tailed hawk and it had been shredded. The head was completely gone and not in the scattered mess.

I never thought red tailed hawks would attack there own species but I still don't know if the hawk that took flight was the culprit. We do have a lot of owls but bot sure if they would take on a red tailed hawk.

On Wednesday after work the carcass was in the same position I left it on Tuesday but on Thursday it was scattered more than on Tuesday. I should have put my game camera out Tuesday night to see what would return but I didn't.
Interesting.

Do not expand thumbnails if you do not want to see non-living miscellaneous bird parts.

My vote is a great horned owl. We have both species nesting nearby; have seen an owl chase a young redtail at dusk. night shift versus day shift. Why there's no rabbits eating my garden greens.