Falling off the perch !

[pegasus]

This is a little related to daisychain's post but with a sadder ending.
When i was kid growing up in north manchester the only birds i noticed were pigeons,'sparrers' and starlings and these tended to be all a murky brown with wheezy coughs because of the chimney smoke.I used to wonder [as kids do] what happened to birds when they die,because you never saw bird corpes ,other than pigeons squashed on the road. My dad said they flew to heaven, which seemed plausible to me at the time..
What prompted that distant memory was an unusual incident when i was driving through Northwich this morning [ your neck of the woods ,Ruth].I noticed a feral pigeon on a streetlamp a little distance ahead. Just as i approached it fell like a stone to the ground. Looking in my rear mirror[i could'nt stop because of the cars behind] it clearly was'nt moving.On my return journey [some half an hour later] it was still there and obviously an ex-pigeon.Presumably it died of natural causes no doubt brought on by the stress of eeking out a living on the mean streets of Northwich[unless hit by sniper from B & Q 's roof] --I wonder why we don't see more dead birds in urban areas given their numbers and relatively short life span,allowing for scavengers and street cleaners.Any thoughts ?

[ron1863]

I reckon that scavengers clear up the dead birds, Foxes and Rats mainly and the odd bird of prey.

[Ruth Daniel]

Originally Posted by pegasus

.Presumably it died of natural causes no doubt brought on by the stress of eeking out a living on the mean streets of Northwich

lol,what are you saying about my home town Pegasus!! lol!!
Funnily enough I noticed House Martins for the first time nesting in our town centre today so some birds manage to survive in our "mean streets"!!! lol!!!


Seriously tho it's very unusual to see a bird literally drop dead I must admit but as Ron says once dead they are soon food for others.

[pegasus]

Thanks for the comments.I only posted because i've never seen a bird drop dead before[or any living creature for that matter]-- Though knowing nothing about the physiology of birds i presume they are as prone to heart attacks as humans.?---For all we know this former pigeon may have been piggin out on the scraps from the back of McDonalds all it's life.-Great to hear about the House Martins they must have re-located from where i live cos there's not many round here.Shall keep an eye for them.
Sorry Ruth about about the 'mean streets' bit -i like northwich so just a bit of 'artistic 'licence.[ though i know the middlewich branch of the mafia give it a wide berth]