GF17932 (its BTO ring number) was originally ringed as a chick in the nest in June 1993, making it nearly 16 years old at its unfortunate demise (the oldest BTO-ringed bird died at 24 years old)! It probably hadn't ventured far in this time though, being ringed only 5km from Monkey World.
This isn't your normal food chain link, but Buzzards can be versatile too... See the recent story of a Buzzard catching a Grey Phalarope, amazingly caught on camera by birder Paul Freestone.
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As if this wasn't bizarre enough, it was rapidly followed yesterday by two reports of birds found dead in Dublin Zoo - a Mallard was found half-eaten in the Snowy Owl enclosure and a Coot met its end in the Sumatran Tiger enclosure!
ReplyDeleteForty years ago, visiting London Zoo, we saw a mallard come off the pool in a tiger enclosure to sun itself on the bank. The tiger wandered nearby and then suddenly bounded and caught the bird. Clearly he wasn't hungry so didn't need to eat it. He played with it - letting it go and pouncing again and again, gradually stripping all the feathers off. One members of the public watching was so distressed she pleaded with a keeper to go in and rescue the mallard, but it was clear he had no intention of getting anywhere near the tiger.
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