Nature is cruel - woodpecker

[dillieboy]

Finally found the culprit our bird boxes have been decimated by a predator. Today 9 chick's met their end. The culprit a woodpecker lesser spotted variety killed the lot. Same as last year.
This time 9 dead chick's only two were taken to eat. Last year was twice as bad. Persistent little git. Pecked the hole big enough to get in. Just seen it now pecking at the bottom of the house martin nest. I just never knew these great looking birds are such killers

 

[deerstalker.308]

Great spotted not lesser I would suggest. But yes they do learn this habit and can be pretty ruthless

 

[jall55]

Finally found the culprit our bird boxes have been decimated by a predator. Today 9 chick's met their end. The culprit a woodpecker lesser spotted variety killed the lot. Same as last year.
This time 9 dead chick's only two were taken to eat. Last year was twice as bad. Persistent little git. Pecked the hole big enough to get in. Just seen it now pecking at the bottom of the house martin nest. I just never knew these great looking birds are such killers

Yes lovely but can be deadly - be worth putting a metal ring round the hole

 

[Dorsettaff]

Had two herring gull chicks raised on our chimney stack......coming on well...growing nicely....until the jackdaws or another gull fancied a meal! Only one now but double the food supply for him/her

 

[GlennUK]

Interesting we have greater spotted regularly on our feeders, this past week 3 at one time.

We take an interesting magpies under GL40 for protection of nesting birds on the 'red/amber' lists, never knew woodpeckers had a taste for them as well.

 

[Long drag]

Trapped Magpies and after a long time nothing was happening so I decided to stop, and let the Call bird go why not.
Next day seen the call bird, recognise him because of the bird droppings on his wings, killing Blackbird chicks.

Yes nature is cruel, it has to be to survive.

 

[the_greenman]

Woodpeckers cleared out our house sparrow nest recently. Caught one a few years back trying to peck a hole in another bird box. Think that's why some are designed with a brass plate surround.
Don't think nature is cruel though. It just doesn't take any prisoners.

 

[Heym SR20]

Little tweety birds - blue tits, sparrows etc survive as a species by laying large clutches of eggs, fledging good numbers of chicks, and laying two clutches a year. The tweety birds - whilst we all love them are really a little flying MacDonalds to all the bigger birds.

Butterflies, Moths and other insects in turn take the same approach- they lay huge numbers of eggs which produce lots of caterpillars and bugs which the blue tits collect in huge numbers to feed their young.

Nature is pretty much a big cycle of protein. We have rather forgotten this.

 

[timbrayford]

Yes lovely but can be deadly - be worth putting a metal ring round the hole

We've used smaller mesh chicken wire to great effect.

 

[Border]

Great spotted not lesser I would suggest. But yes they do learn this habit and can be pretty ruthless

Great spotted woodpecker and red squirrels raid alot of nest boxes over here.

 

[Hornet]

Nature is neither cruel nor kind, nature merely is.

 

[jall55]

Trapped Magpies and after a long time nothing was happening so I decided to stop, and let the Call bird go why not.
Next day seen the call bird, recognise him because of the bird droppings on his wings, killing Blackbird chicks.

Yes nature is cruel, it has to be to survive.

Sorry to rain on your parade but thats a daft thing to do - all it does is educate and make trapping harder for everyone else

 

[bigtone]

It might hold a seminar on how to avoid traps lol

 

[Norfolk Horn]

We've used smaller mesh chicken wire to great effect.

In some areas they have to cover the bee hives to stop them destroying them.

 

[jall55]

It might hold a seminar on how to avoid traps lol

No it wont but it will certainly be more wary

 

[Craigsaun]

Finally found the culprit our bird boxes have been decimated by a predator. Today 9 chick's met their end. The culprit a woodpecker lesser spotted variety killed the lot. Same as last year.
This time 9 dead chick's only two were taken to eat. Last year was twice as bad. Persistent little git. Pecked the hole big enough to get in. Just seen it now pecking at the bottom of the house martin nest. I just never knew these great looking birds are such killers

I am glad you have posted this, as I have a new batch of boxes up this year around the farm and one of them has a hole below the main hole and I couldn’t figure out what has been doing it . It makes sense now, as squirrels normally just extend the main hole

 

[bigtone]

I put chicken wire around them,pin it back where the entrance is.

 

[Dodder]

I have several schwegler woodcrete boxes with 'cages' over the entrance hole to prevent predators from taking the chicks - these are also super easy to clean out which is a plus.

Some years ago Mrs D said 'there's a Spotted Woodpecker trying to get into that nestbox to nest'. I replied 'no, its trying to get into the box to get to the Blue Tit chicks!' Next day I fitted some homemade 2mm aluminium plates over all my wooden nestbox holes... Stops Woodpeckers and squirrels getting in.

 

[hunter243]

 

[billy_boyle_2010]

I agree with all the above - it's not cruelty- it's natural etc. Cruel is a human word. We are the only ones capeable of it.

But all birds are absolute psychopaths. I really struggle to understand why we put some on a pedestal whilst hating others.

Generally if they are small or very large- look or sound nice- or at the top of their food chain- we like them. But the mid sized ones- we don't for some reason.

I'm glad most are protected. But they are evil flying dinosaurs make no mistake about it.

How birds of prey have convinced most of us they aren't flying murdering shredding killers is beyond me.