Recently I saw two chickadees going at it, beak and claw, around my
patio. They landed on the concrete and rolled around till one flew off.
The other sat on the ground with a feather in its beak for a few seconds
and then took off. I have never seen chickadees fight like that.
I have had several of them hanging around all winter.
Sysliene Turpin
Minneapolis
Came across an interesting scene in the neighbors driveway yesterday. A male
cardinal that had just expired, small feathers scattered in the immediate area,
he had a beak full of breast feathers still in his mouth. The posture and snow
evidence was such as to indicate he was alone and still somewhat functional
when he died. No broken bones or visible trauma. My first thought was he
maybe got hit and pinned in the grill of their car and fell loose when they got
home, but the feathers in the beak more strongly suggest a cardinal battle,
which would be ironic since I never saw more than one pair of cardinals all
winter in my neighborhood. Though I have a sharpie hunting my feeders the past
few days, they always take their whole victims with them and won't leave dinner
behind, and the cardinal did not looked plucked.
I've certainly seen some nasty bird battles over the years, but never cardinals
and never heard of passerines battling to the death. If you have seen such an
episode, please share it with me.
Randy Frederickson
Willmar Middle School
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