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Post by teasel on May 19, 2020 11:10:17 GMT
I'm posting here as the crow won! But I thought newts weren't very tasty? Anyway, my garden isn't that big, so I was surprised when a crow worked its way down to the path and then moved over to the pond, as it didn't seem to have an easy escape route if one of the neighbourhood cats visited. It proceeded to examine one of my mini ponds (a washing up bowl) and threw a lot of the plants out. It then went to the pond where it caught a newt quite quickly. It put it in a nearby flower pot and continued hunting, this time unsuccessfully. It went back to the newt in the flower pot and flew off with it. It seemed to know what it was doing but I haven't seen it in my garden before so I presume it learnt in someone else's pond. Lock down has some benefits 
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Post by aeshna5 on May 19, 2020 17:05:13 GMT
Blackbirds will take them too, so must be tastier than you think!
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Post by teasel on May 19, 2020 21:37:14 GMT
thanks aeshna. As a intermittent enthusiast I had a vague memory that newts were noxious. Blackbirds have visited the pond in previous years, but I thought they were only bathing, preferring the pond over the bird bath. Just as well I have a lot of newts in a smallish pond!
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Post by aeshna5 on May 20, 2020 4:31:25 GMT
thanks aeshna. As a intermittent enthusiast I had a vague memory that newts were noxious. Blackbirds have visited the pond in previous years, but I thought they were only bathing, preferring the pond over the bird bath. Just as well I have a lot of newts in a smallish pond! Could you be thinking of toads- they have various toxins, though some creatures can still eat them? |
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Post by rowanberry on May 20, 2020 7:38:59 GMT
Now I know why there is a crow who keeps lurking around our pond- a few times I've looked out and it's been sitting by the side. I've not seen it fly off with anything yet.
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Post by accipiter on May 20, 2020 18:50:37 GMT
Now I know why there is a crow who keeps lurking around our pond- a few times I've looked out and it's been sitting by the side. I've not seen it fly off with anything yet. Carrion crows have be known to catch fish from both garden ponds and larger waters, here they catch them in their feet much the same as an osprey. In fact they have been seen throwing bread into garden ponds to use as bait as an aid to catch goldfish in their beaks; neither would it surprise me if other corvid do this as well. Interestingly enough the carrion crow I kept as a boy use to watch the goldfish swimming round in our pond so much so I placed a fine meshed net over the pond to prevent it from taking the goldfish. I also kept a rook which lived in the same enclosure (they were free to fly anywhere they wanted,) each had their own food plates but wouldn’t take food from each other’s plates; extremely intelligent is the point I’m trying to make. On the question of crows, newts, and frogs, other predators, including cats, stoats, and weasels, also prefer not to eat shrews, since they smell and taste bad. Again owls prefer not to eat them, but will if nothing else is available. In fact little owls won’t feed them to their chicks the adults much prefer not to eat them either. Looking through my notes I have no records of little owls taking shrews, this being the fact it probably holds true for corvids and other species of birds too. Incidentally,in light of these facts hard and fast rules applied to birds shouldn’t be taken as gospel since it depends very much on the circumstances / weather / habitat and the individuals involved. Alan |
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Post by teasel on May 23, 2020 10:56:31 GMT
I may well have been thinking of toads. Newts do look like a tasty morsel.
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