A squirrel bought the farm in the middle of the road .. it wasn't long til the buzzards found it. First there was one, then four (the 4th one is on the roof) .. scared the bajeebers out of some 2nd graders walking home .. I gave them a quick lesson on how they were nature's garbage disposal and that they wouldn't hurt any thing that was alive. After being reassured they weren't on the menu they waxed and waned between "that's really neat!" and "poor squirrel".
X
The first one that found it was being harassed by a cat and flew to the roof of a house and proceeded to spread his wings .. I'm thinking he was enjoying the warmth of the sun.
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LOL, poor kids. They are a bit creepy... and they certainly don't win any beauty prizes.
Yeah, they're not pretty, but they are so graceful in flight. I'm always surprised at how big they actually are, too.
We had a similar sight last week, X. One of the sheep at the farm across the road died. These big guys were there for days. I counted 17 at one point, all in the same big tree. Kinda scary lookin'. Made me not want to stand still for too long! LOL.
Well the cat that was harassing the first one to arrive, made a hasty retreat when 4 showed up. They are big and yes graceful. Their wingspan is amazing.
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Smart cat! Retreat was the right choice, i think. :>
Last summer a deer or something large died in a thicket behind my neighbors home. The smell was horrendous and no one could get into this tight thicket. It was over the weekend and the plan was to bring in some heavy equipment on Monday. Then the buzzards showed up - many, many of them - and by Monday there wasn't a hint of the nasty smell. It was creepy but those birds did a great job.
When I lived in Virgina in the boondocks, a town called Claremont, population 200. My cat Poppy came with me with me when I moved back to the states from England. There was a huge field behind my house and Poppy was always catching rabbits, mice and voles. One day I watched in horror as Poppy started stalking two buzzards in the field .. he got about 10 feet away from them and one of the buzzards spread his wings and hopped toward him .. needless to say, Poppy changed his mind real quick and ran the other way.
You can see Poppy in front of the car.
Some farm people call them turkey buzzards,and they wont eat turkey because they remind them of buzzards and road kill.
I can see why the kids were scared--they are HUGE up close. I'm always amazed at their wingspan. My oppussom visitor came by twice tonight. Tried to get my son to go out and see it, but that, too, is one species that looks so much more frightening up close. Can't seem to get rid of this guy (girl? I'm hoping not), which worries me. And it worries my chickens a lot. Since he moved in, we've had our own version of homeland security. Seems to be working, so far...but I hear so many horror stories about headless hens...
Never having heard of possums eating chickens I checked and I guess it might be possible but - you have to admit - any animal that eats snakes should be welcome. :-)
Opossum Diet
Here is a list of some of the things that opossums will eat in the wild.
All green and yellow vegetables
Quantities of grass
Most types of fruit
Carrion
Snails, slugs, and worms of all types
Insects, flies, earwings and roaches etc.
Rats and mice
Snakes
Amphibians
Eggs
Crayfish and other fish if available
Cetain types of dog and cat food if left outside to feed someone's pets
In captivity they like all kinds of juices
I hadn't heard about the chicken thing either! I have a few Opossums that frequent my backyard at night - boy do they stink!.. 2 years ago I found a baby in a bucket .. I dumped him out over the fence in the thicket.
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My parents used to catch possums in the chicken house all the time on their small farm. I always argued possums were vegetarians and/or scavengers, but they both swore they had caught them killing the chickens. I always figured they were just after the eggs. We used to trap them by the dozens and take them down to the property on the river. Well, at least that was the case for the ones that hadn't killed anything yet.
well, if they are going after the chickens, then the chickens would attack them protecting their young. They would peck and peck. And the possum would fight back. end would be worse for the chickens - those critters have needle teeth, nasty suckers. I can see how that would be bad. it's bad enough to lose those eggs!
we have too many local possums. their diet list explains why I had marvelous squash plants and not a single squash.
Oh, yea, they will eat a chicken, or an egg, and have the teeth and jaw strength to go through chicken wire. Same as raccoons....which I also have. Both animals are quite opportunistic, which is why they thrive in urban settings. Very admirable, actually, when you think of it, but I don't!
I remember one day we ran into a mama possum and all her babies (and there were a lot of them)... they could only have been a few days old. I remember they slowly started to disappear after we found them, until eventually it was just the sole mama by herself... and I couldn't quite figure out where they'd all gone too. I don't think I ever realize possums were marsupials until that day.
darn - I meant to write "they go after the eggs", not they go after the chickens.
