Where Have All Bird Corpses Gone?

December 14, 2012 6:54 PM

Why don't I see more dead birds?

I see plenty of live birds: big ones, little ones, loud ones, chirpy ones. Crows, gulls, hummingbirds, sparrows, hawks. In my whole life I've seen lots of live birds. Only a handful of dead ones.

I assume other critters ingest the bird corpses. But even roadkill sticks around for a few hours or days.

How come I'm not up to my elbows in dead birds?

posted by notyou to Pets & Animals (16 answers total)

Neighborhood cats. They take them back home as presents.
posted by sanka at 6:56 PM on December 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

They're quite small and nondescript when they're dead. I see them regularly when I'm walking through the neighborhood, but I almost always have to look twice to understand what I'm seeing. Our eyes are very much attuned to movement - that's why the live ones are so visible - but just a tiny heap of feathers is hard to spot.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:58 PM on December 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I bike in Chicago and I see bird roadkill constantly.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:18 PM on December 14, 2012

Most if them die either by being caught and eaten by something else, or in inconspicuous places, like hiding in the bushes, which is what sick animals do. If they do die in obvious places, other things (like ants) start in on them pretty quickly.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 7:19 PM on December 14, 2012 [5 favorites]

I also live in Chicago and see dead birds all the freaking time. Everywhere.

The corpses don't stick around very long in places where there's more wildlife around to chomp on them, but here in the city it takes a bit longer.
posted by phunniemee at 7:27 PM on December 14, 2012

It is not just rodents and other small mammals that feast on the dead. Predator birds - hawks, owls, etc. - will kill the ones who are sick or injured.
posted by yclipse at 7:40 PM on December 14, 2012

I see tons of dead birds, but I think it's because I'm always out walking my dog and he's a sneaky, sneaky scavenger, so I spend the whole time relentlessly scrutinizing the ground just ahead of us for potential edibles. Walk a few miles like that and I bet you'll see a bunch of dead birds.
posted by HotToddy at 7:53 PM on December 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also, sick and injured birds tend to find small nooks and crannies where they won't be vulnerable to predators, or visible to passers by.
posted by Garm at 7:56 PM on December 14, 2012

Previously.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:20 PM on December 14, 2012

In the country or suburbs: animals eat them.

In the city: there's street cleaning, and most shop owners sweep outside their shops.

There are not many places a dead bird would stick around for long. But, like the other posters, I do see them occasionally on residential (non commercial) city sidewalks which is probably one of the more likely places.

Also, consider that the square footage of places people actually walk is very small compared to the total square footage in the world. Take a look at this photo of Boston. The fraction of the total surface area of a city that is taken up by walkable sidewalks is probably between 1/100th and 1/1000th of the total area. The streets you see on the map are bigger than the walkable area... sidewalks are just on the edges of those. So you sample only a small part of the world each day. The probability of a bird dropping in your area is small.

Had to answer this one due to my username. Special expertise!
posted by kellybird at 8:24 PM on December 14, 2012 [4 favorites]

I live in New York City and see dead birds often.
posted by sweetkid at 10:57 PM on December 14, 2012

Maybe where you live and the number of dogs and cats in the hood?
I see a lot of dead birds.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 1:47 AM on December 15, 2012

Most birds are prey animals and are adapted to hide their sickness until the last possible moment, and then just hide as best they can. When predators get them they tend to also drag them off to someplace where other predators are unlikely to find them and then compete for the meal.
posted by Blasdelb at 7:09 AM on December 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

In Chicago (at least during migration seasons) bird corpses are collected for science by the Bird Collision Monitors. Live-but-stunned birds get rehabilitated and released, dead ones get sent to the Field Museum collection so scientists there can study them.
posted by Wulfhere at 8:33 AM on December 15, 2012

The Straight Dope, a question from 1988: Where are all the dead pigeons?
posted by Rash at 9:20 AM on December 15, 2012

I see dead birds regularly. I also see scavengers eating dead birds regularly. We get the odd window strike death at my building, and I've personally cleaned up a few of those. I'll also dispose of a dead roadkill bird if I see one, because one corpse I can pick up and throw away is easier for everyone to deal with than a smear of gore and feathers a few hours later.

Comments about sick birds finding somewhere safe to recover (ie, hidden) and how predators will take a kill somewhere secluded to prevent bits being nicked by scavangers are pretty spot on. Watching crows on the wing arguing over the dead pigeon they've found is a revolting, yet awe inspiring thing.

Data points: I walk everywhere. I see very little of anything if I'm taking cars around, but walking about means I see a whole lot more of the little details around city life.

I also live on a 7 lane major thoroughfare, so I suspect I will see a lot more roadkill than people who don't.

Lastly I like watching the wildlife in my little corner of the world, mostly because I am in a fairly urban area and it fascinates me that there is so much vitality crammed in at the edges of our cities. It's there if you know where to look, and I've taken the time to learn.

So I imagine if you drive around and don't spend a lot of time on foot in your city, and you live in a relatively low traffic area, there's just going to be less dead birds for you to see.
posted by Jilder at 12:45 AM on December 16, 2012