Can doods catch a sparrow??

[Ginny Nightingale]

I had a "what the???" moment this morning. I was busy in the house while the dogs played and went in and out of the house (ahh, summer) when I spotted something weird on the living room floor. It was a very dead sparrow. I have no idea how it got there--Neither dog seemed too interested in it and one of my doodles usually eats anything she catches. (Luckily, she doesn't catch much because eating an animal does not really agree with her digestive system...) The other doodle, Lyric, is always leaping up into the air to catch butterflies and bugs, but could she catch a bird?! It's a mystery to me!

We have a robin's nest right outside the backdoor just about 7 feet off the ground and the dogs are always watching the parents fly in and out. I sure hope they don't catch the young robins when they make their first flight!

[Ginny Nightingale]

The baby loon that is in the background of the photo is about halfway up towards the left hand side of the picture.

[Ginny Nightingale]

True--this same robin has a nest in the neighboring tree earlier this summer--JUST as close to the dogs! She must like my doodles--probably because they keep the CAT away!
The loons might desert a chick if it is not keeping up though--especially if there is a lack of food and feeding two chicks is an effort. This has been seen in other bird populations where life is harsh. The mom has a better chance of surviving if one chick dies somehow and she has only one to feed. Then she will have more babies over her lifetime. It is so hard to watch--but is the best outcome for the survival of the species.
Here is a photo of my friend watching the loon and baby with the second baby WAY in the background trying to catch up.

[F, Calla & Luca]

The robins have several clutches of eggs a season because of the high mortality rate. But the parents usually will come back to feed fledglings, even out of the nest, for several weeks. This poor robin just was unlucky.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Well, a not-so-happy ending to the saga of the robin's nest. Last night, I thought we were in the clear when the second robin perched on the edge of the nest and prepared to leave. The mother and other baby were no where in sight, but I figured they were up in the trees someplace. When my husband got up with the dogs this morning, though, the second baby was floating in the kiddie pool that we use for the dogs. He must have flown or hopped into it during the night and couldn't get out, poor thing. Mattie (the doodle who was watching the nest with interest yesterday) gently picked up the bird form the pool and dropped it carefully when my husband told her to. So sad...but I guess that is "survival of the fittest" (evolution) in that she was slower to get out of the nest than her sibling and was left behind.
We were camping on a pond in the Adirondack mountains last week and saw a loon family abandon their second chick because it was smaller and weaker. The chick kept cheeping and trying to catch up and they just ignored it and swam away. This went on for at least a day--hard to watch!

[Ginny Nightingale]

A hummingbird? yikes!
One of the baby robins came out of the nest and flew off with mom this afternoon and the other one was at the edge of the nest by nightfall--my worries may soon be over!

[Tammy & Gracie]

Yes, they can. Last summer Gracie got a HUMMINGBIRD! Really. So if they are in the right place at the right time.....

[Ginny Nightingale]

It probably was flying into our garage--we have a nest on a shelf in there. I know one parent is still in the nest--not sure if the other parent was the one killed.
Now I have the dogs in the house, because the baby robins are making their first excursions out of their nest--they grew so fast! I hope they fly out of the yard soon and get out of harm's way. Mattie spent the whole morning staring up at them--thankfully, she has short legs.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Peri has been close before-haha! These doods can be quite the hunters!

[Ginny Nightingale]

I read your discussion--and I am guessing the same thing happened only Lyric bit down a bit harder! I think Mattie probably brought it in to me--she is more of a "people-oriented" dog and never lets me out of her sight. I am sure she would have wanted to present the bird to me.
Lyric could stay outside aaallllll day. Her favorite thing to do is to dig a hole in the cool dirt under the crabapple tree and lie there--she loves mud! The robin's nest is directly above her "mud bed". Hopefully, they will make it.

[Beth Lord]

YES THEY CAN. My last doodle service dog pup caught one IN MIDAIR. I could hardly believe it, he just snatched it out of the air and then looked at me with a "?!" sort of look on his face, a wing sticking out each side of his mouth...yikes!! I think he surprised even himself...