Grey Butcherbird and Singing Canary

Last summer a Grey Butcherbird bit off one leg of our Canary after squeezing in between the cage and it’s protective screen, then strangled trying to get out.
The Canary kept singing after a week or two, adapted well and now hops and flaps around on one foot as if nothing had happened. Stopped singing at the end of summer as usual.
Prior to the amputation I had frequently chased off the Butcherbird family which would unsuccessfully attack the cage several times a day. (Between attacks the Canary was unconcerned and just kept singing beautifully)
Two days after the death of the Butcherbird, which looked like an immature male, I was walking in the paddock, well away from the death scene, when the rest of the Butcherbird family flew, most unusually, into an isolated nearby tree, looked down at me and commenced a complicated series of calls, almost talking, which were totally unfamiliar despite many decades of hearing these birds singing and calling.
This went on for several minutes . The distinct impression was that they were accusing me.
Since then their attacks have virtually ceased, and the one legged Canary is secure, waiting for
Spring to sing again.

Michael

Sent from my iPhone

> On 18 Mar 2019, at 3:00 am, birding-aus-request@birding-aus.org wrote:
>
> Send Birding-Aus mailing list submissions to
> birding-aus@birding-aus.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body ‘help’ to
> birding-aus-request@birding-aus.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> birding-aus-owner@birding-aus.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than “Re: Contents of Birding-Aus digest…”
>
>
> Today’s Topics:
>
> 1. Grey Butcherbird kills Spotted Dove (Anthea Fleming)
> 2. Re: Grey Butcherbird kills Spotted Dove (Martin Butterfield)
> 3. Re: Grey Butcherbird kills Spotted Dove (David Clark)
> 4. Re: Grey Butcherbird kills Spotted Dove (Philip Veerman)
>
>
> ———————————————————————-
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2019 09:51:05 +1100
> From: Anthea Fleming < flambeau@labyrinth.net.au>
> To: birding-aus@birding-aus.org
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Grey Butcherbird kills Spotted Dove
> Message-ID: < 5C8D7DD9.1060701@labyrinth.net.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”iso-8859-1″; Format=”flowed”
>
> At about 7.15 yesterday evening I walked out my front door. A male Grey
> Butcherbird flew up from the drive and perched on the fence. I found it
> had been feeding on a Spotted Dove. The Dove’s head was missing and the
> breast had been eaten. The innards had been eaten out from inside the
> body cavity, so that it was reduced to wings, ‘frame’, tail and feet.
> It was clearly very fresh with blood bright red and still dripping when
> I inspected the corpse. The Butcherbird did not return to its prey
> after I went inside – still undisturbed this morning.
> Spotted Doves often sit on the ground in our drive and pick grit
> there. I think a Dove is unusual prey for a Butcherbird, but I have read
> an account of such a killing made by a Butcherbird diving onto a Dove
> and striking its neck with its bill. I presume it was eaten in situ
> because too heavy to carry away.
>
> Anthea Fleming
> Ivanhoe, Vic.
> ————– next part ————–
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed…
> URL:
>
> ——————————
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2019 11:58:26 +1100
> From: Martin Butterfield < martinflab@gmail.com>
> To: Anthea Fleming < flambeau@labyrinth.net.au>
> Cc: birding-aus NEW < birding-aus@birding-aus.org>
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Grey Butcherbird kills Spotted Dove
> Message-ID:
> < CANX9cviZKfK–d1h7Yd6uAihMNVT9cBQKzmFexaOTQYVbz=d=g@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”utf-8″
>
> Can you relocate the Butcherbird to give it a medal?
>
> Martin Butterfield
> franmart.blogspot.com.au/
>
>
> On Sun, 17 Mar 2019 at 09:52, Anthea Fleming < flambeau@labyrinth.net.au>
> wrote:
>
>> At about 7.15 yesterday evening I walked out my front door. A male Grey
>> Butcherbird flew up from the drive and perched on the fence. I found it had
>> been feeding on a Spotted Dove. The Dove’s head was missing and the breast
>> had been eaten. The innards had been eaten out from inside the body cavity,
>> so that it was reduced to wings, ‘frame’, tail and feet. It was clearly
>> very fresh with blood bright red and still dripping when I inspected the
>> corpse. The Butcherbird did not return to its prey after I went inside –
>> still undisturbed this morning.
>> Spotted Doves often sit on the ground in our drive and pick grit there.
>> I think a Dove is unusual prey for a Butcherbird, but I have read an
>> account of such a killing made by a Butcherbird diving onto a Dove and
>> striking its neck with its bill. I presume it was eaten in situ because too
>> heavy to carry away.
>>
>> Anthea Fleming
>> Ivanhoe, Vic.
>>