Three days ago, I posted pictures of Chestnut-backed Chickadees parents bringing food to their chicks in a cavity nest. On this first non-rainy day since, I returned in the hope that the chicks would now be peeking out of the nest.
All was quiet.
There were neither chickadee parents nor chicks. Yet protruding from the cavity, was the hind end of a dead weasel-like mammal. Its fur was matted as if by the previous day’s rain.
I don’t know what this animal is. And while I can easily imagine it wanting to eat those delectable chicks, what could have killed it in flagrante delicto? I would have thought that the chickadee parents would have been defenceless against it. Any insights are welcome.
A small mammal died while raiding a chickadee nest. What is it? How was it killed?
Question, related to an event in our yard recently; might the culprits be wasps? A squirrel had taken up maternity residence in a birdhouse but was driven out by wasps. With trepidation and after seeing no activity for about a week from usually busy momma squirrel, we lowered the bird house to check. To our relief there was a beautiful squirrel nest in the box, but no bodies.
Conversely, might the predator be a bedraggled young racoon who got stuck and couldn’t get out?
Mary Kate
Whatever this creature might be – young Racoon, as Mary sugggests? – I wonder if gorging on young chickadees resulted in a belly too big to fit back through the narrow opening. Just a thought.
After a review of possible arboreal predators, a number of people suggested that it must be a squirrel. That its tail is not bushy, is probably the result of hanging there for a couple of days in the rain. It is likely that it just got stuck.