Nope, no birds involved, sorry. At Ridgefield yesterday I watched a pair of coyotes try to take down a nutria and fail miserably. I thought I was about to vomit my lunch while watching a nutria get torn in half, but nope. He made a run for it down into the slough. But it was still cool to watch.
From Janet: I want to point out that coyotes often hunt in pairs like this, especially when there is larger prey than a gopher involved. Also, coyotes, like the rest of us, don’t always have the same skill sets, most of which have to be learned through practice and through watching other coyotes. All the bites by the coyotes were to the nutria’s back: I wonder if they were trying to break its back to incapacitate it? Or, might they have been trying to pick it up to carry it off, but unable to do so? It looks like the nutria endured several puncture wounds — I hope its injuries were not too severe. Nutrias were “eradicated” from California, but they still inhabit Oregon. Thanks, Jen, for sharing your posting and superb photos!