Predatory Brewer Blackbirds
Predatory Brewer Blackbirds
Several years ago, in eastern Oregon, I encountered my first murderous blackbird. My attention was attracted to a pair of Brewer Sparrows that were frantically fluttering about a Brewer Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) that seemed to be trying to hide from the view of the world some object that was being held between the feet and hidden by the drooping wings. At intervals, when the sparrows permitted, vigorous blows were delivered at the victim, which seemed to be still struggling.
I forced the blackbird to relinquish its prey, which I found to be a fledgling sparrow, seemingly just from the nest, that had been all but brained by its assailant. The second case of murderous assault was witnessed the past summer in Balboa Park, San Diego. A Brewer Blackbird was seen pounding a suspicious object, as described in the first instance, which when identified was found to be a young Greenbacked Goldfinch only a week, or perhaps less, from the egg. The bird must have been taken from the nest, as it was far too small to have reached the rim and fallen over.
The murderer in the first instance abandoned its prey on my approach, but the second refused to give up what it seemed to consider its lawful dinner and several times flew with it to a distance of fifty feet, where it renewed its efforts to reduce the nestling to a size that would permit of its being swallowed.
A. W. Anthony
San Diego, California, March 19, 1922
