[Blessings2You]

We had (at least) a pair of Easter Phoebes around the house for a few weeks...you couldn't look out the window without seeing a phoebe zooming around, usually with a bug or nesting material or something in its mouth. We were loving them!

This morning Bob commented that he hadn't seen one today, which was odd. I had seen a hawk earlier and guessed they were hiding. A little while ago he found two phoebes, deceased, out by the garage doors.
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We don't know what happened. Did they bump into the garage door window? BOTH of them?? Were they poisoned? Did they eat a bug that had eaten some kind of poison?

I'm trying not to overreact to this, but I could easily sit down and sob.

[mrsD]

It is hard to say. Birds get sick like other animals. Large birds can get West Nile Virus... and we have seen less crows as a result of this. One year upNorth, a sick eagle was rescued from a parking lot with the virus.

We haven't had any warblers this year at all. I am wondering about that one.

We have had hawks 3 days in a row, and the Blue Jays are creating a huge ruckus! Loud hysterical screaming. I even saw 3 crows yesterday after one. We typically have hawks because we have lots of birds, but as soon as these perhaps juvies showed up our birds have become scarce too (hiding).

I have read that some birds run into antennas and die, if a new tower is put up in their flight migratory paths.

It is possible a cat got your birds, sometimes they just leave the carcass.

It is always sad to find dead things, IMO. Right now we are finding dead bunnies! Not my favorite thing that Oreo does! But we have so many, and they eat our plants, etc. But it is still hard to deal with them. The bunnies are her favorite!
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[lefthanded]

I say go ahead and have a cry. Write the event on your calendar, and at the end of the year you will see, as you review your calendar, that you have begun to heal from the grief. But I see nothing wrong with feeling sadness about this . . .

[mrsD]

I just remembered...this possibility is not pleasant, but it happens.

Crows and ravens, often attack nests, and destroy other birds and their eggs.

A crow attacked the hummingbird nest of Phoebe this spring and the newly fledging Hope was lost. And Hoku was found on the ground and returned to the nest. He did fledge finally safely, a few days later (he was the second egg and "behind" in development). YOu can see more on Phoebe's site:
There are videos there and links to Facebook:

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Phoebe's nests have become very popular and if you like hummingbirds, you will become hooked on her too!
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We have watched groups of crows work the trees across the channel from us...they make alot of noise and drew our attention.
With binos we saw them throwing out various birds from the high trees and some nests too! It was an awful sight.
We've also seen them mob bats as they roost.
Did you look at the birds, to see if they were juveniles or adults in plumage? If young ones, they may have been attacked at the nest or near it, by crows. The crows don't eat them, just attack them!

Also sometimes a bird of prey will get a bird and drop it. We find them on the paths up north sometimes.

I looked up Eastern Phoebe...and they typically nest near people and in buildings. I suppose some predator or other bird found the nest and trashed it, sadly.

[mrsD]

I had another thought, since Phoebes nest near dwellings.
Weasels like to hang around people and often live under porches, or in sheds etc.

Weasels, are well known for killing and leaving. They often kill far more than they eat or need. People who have chickens can vouch for that behavior. One weasel can kill a whole coop! They can also climb well.

[Blessings2You]

We couldn't see any nests near where Bob found the birds...we just thought it odd to find TWO within a few inches of each other. And if they were fledglings...where did mom and dad go?

We have chickens also, and weasels (and their mean cousin minks) are our big nightmare.

Perhaps it will always be a mystery. It's not that I've never seen a dead bird before, after all. Maybe they reached their expiration dates...

[mrsD]

One of our cats just loves to catch bats. We call them flying mousies! They swoop low for mosquitos at our summer place.

Well, when our cousins arrived at their place (about 100 yds down the path), one of them, who is a Vet, said to us...
"Do you have cats up here"? (they are dog folks) It seems that Tippy was going down there and catching their bats in the night (they have more than we do), and leaving the dead ones on the first step of their sleeping cabin!

We were pretty amazed that she would leave them like that as an "offering". At our place she just leaves them in a path, for us to step on outside.
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But I always get upset when I see dead birds. Seems very unfair to me!