Bird Watching: Birds of the Feather Flock Together, 1 by GoldenDomer

GoldenDomer wrote:
I first feel the need to explain why I made this odd post to start with. This was the very first time I got 3 different species of birds together at once on my favorite feeder. I was so enthused and impulsive that I barely looked at the cardinal except to determine that she was one of those three species. From left to right they are the cardinal, a female house finch, a sparrow and the male house finch.

I'm a guy living a simple life and don't want a bunch of unanswered question in my back yard. So, I've been digging thru hundreds of pics to find the latest one taken of my female cardinal when she still had her tail intact. That pic is below taken just one week earlier on the same feeder. I've rotated it clockwise to spotlight all of her tail possible for you to see. I was initially aiming at her pretty face since I feel she's as beautiful as her more colorful mate tho in a more subdued and stately way. Take a close look at her and see if you can agree with me on that - look at them seemingly bigger and certainly prettier eyes, for example.

My conclusion is that it was a cat (as Resin and Debbie suggested) since only a physical attack could account for that much tail loss so suddenly. Also, I'm playing down my Hawk theory as I've never seen her miss and fly away with her talons only full of feathers. I realize that the cardinal is a quicker bird than the dove and could have possibly escaped but it seems unlikely to me. A female Red-tail Hawk is a magnificent hunter standing 2 feet tall and weighing between 4-5 pounds and easily able to fly away with some of the smaller cats that I see in my neighborhood and who are the likely culprits in this.

That is Nature's way of settling scores and in my neighborhood this Hawk is at the top of the food chain.

Dave