These pictures were captured by a Ukrainian photographer (I think), and published in a leading French paper. These two birds were a couple, one of them got a fatal injury. The pics pretty much tell the rest.
Are the pics in chronological order? Because the first pic suggested that the bird was already capped... then in the second pic they went at it. Then the rest just shows a dead bird.
I think the little fella is hurt in the 1st pic. OP says so. Don't birds mate for life. What happended to "till death do you part?"
Man, I can't stand seeing dead things - it reminds me of my own mortality. The camaraderie is touching and saddening, but the dead bird is simply creepy. Funny thing is, I heard a story just like this about a week ago. A large bird of some kind got hit by a car on the freeway during rush hour and the driver stopped to evaluate the situation. Then, the bird's mate showed up and wouldn't leave the body alone, so 5 o'clock traffic was held up until animal control could remove them both.
A few days ago I was driving down Southwest Parkway and I saw something that was both weird and sad. As I approached the intersection, I noticed a HUGE dead squirrel planted in the middle of the road. It wasn't completely squished, so I assumed it had been hit recently. Proceeding down the parkway, I came closer and saw that there were, in fact, two squirrels in the middle of the road (right on the yellow stripe). One had obviously been hit by a car, but may have still been alive. The second squirrel stood on its hind legs and would randomly rush at cars as they passed, as if protecting the squirrel that had been hit. I slowed as I passed and looked ... the squirrel laying down had its rear end squished but was still moving a bit. The other, unharmed, squirrel was resting its forepaws on the half-squished squirrel but would dodge into the lanes as cars passed before running back to the dying squirrel. A few hours later, I drove down Southwest Parkway in the opposite direction. There were two dead squirrels in the middle of the road.
So what happens to the mate? Does it just kinda.. fly around aimlessly now? I mean someone said birds find mates for life.. but this bird's mate is dead. In the words of Cher, "Do you believe in love after love...?"
great pics. may i suggest this become the new picture thread? if youre going to post nsfw pics, US A PREVIEW TAG.
