Robin eating dead animals

[FUDGEY]

Last week I was driving along at first light and I seen a Robin fly of a mangled Rabbit that was in the middle of the road. I then wondered if it had been picking at it as it was a really cold night and it might have been starving, but thought in the end it probably wasnt. Any way went up to my hide the other day and found the remains of a Wood Pigeon that a Sparrowhawk had devoured. All that was left was a lot of feathers and a breast bone with tiny bits of meat on it. I filled all the feeders and like I always do had a seat in the hide for 15 mins. After a few minutes the birds came back in numbers and I watched a Robin head straight for the breast bone and pick of the morsels of Pigeon meat. What Id like to know is if this is common and why it would choose this option when I have a host of other foods available including fat balls and suet mixes with meal worms etc.

[DMF235-Belfast]

Hi, I've no knowledge or experience of the subjectbut my thoughts on reading about the rabbit were maybe there were some insects on the corpse then I read about the pidgeon and thought well was it still warm? maybe thats what clinched it?

[John_M]

Could it be because the pigeon was on the ground? The robins in my garden never seem to go for the fat balls or feeders, but will quite happily take food that's scattered on the ground.

[actionfinch]

Originally Posted by John_M

Could it be because the pigeon was on the ground? The robins in my garden never seem to go for the fat balls or feeders, but will quite happily take food that's scattered on the ground.

an intresting thought...

but i see a robin on my sunflower hearts just the other day and thought the same thing...landing on a bird table yeah but a feeder...

[jeremiah]

"Eating fat is natural for them - before birdtables were around birds like tits and robins would scavenge at wolf kills and dead animals and eat the fat from under the skin. They still do this in the far north."

From RKB's post on this thread:
Going to make my first bird cake

[Susie]

I would have thought it was a good source of protein. Obviously birds need fat but the meat on a rabbit or other animal must hold a whole host of other nutrients.

[Doggle Avaddit]

Maybe the Robin can tell the difference between organic free range natural food and a "McDonalds"?

[SheffieldLass]

Feeding the very hungry birds in my garden over the last few days, a bit of left over cooked minced beef was the first thing that both the robins and blackbirds went for, and that was when they'd not ever been given it before. They had sunflower hearts, other seeds, some broken pieces of walnuts, cashews, chopped apple to choose from, all put on the ground in the same place at the same time.

The walnuts and cashews were second favourite, and again the first time I'd ever given them to the birds (a bag of mixed nuts had spilt in my car boot, and some had got rather muddy - I don't normally give them such luxury foods ). There wasn't even the slightest hesitation before they took the beef and nuts - they just went straight for them.

The birds are so tame at the moment, due to the snow, coming to within a foot or two of me. They come rushing up when I emerge from my house, and a chorus of blackbird tuck-tucking, and robins clicking starts up in anticipation that a fresh batch of food might be about to appear. There are at least 10 blackbirds in my garden, and 5 robins.