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Re: Laughing Gull Attacked



Nathan, and carolinabirds:

It probably doesn't fit this list, but a neighbor near my parents' farm in
Hillsborough in the 1960's had snapping turtles in his farm pond taking
chickens that came to drink, and on two occasions (in 30+ years) I have seen
large farm-pond snappers on my farm kill young lambs by dragging them under
water. They will eat anything they can drown and they do not let go until it
stops moving.


James H. Coman, III
Executive Director
Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust
P.O. Box 2557
Boone, N. C. 28607
Farm Office 336-359-2909
Fax 336-359-8643 







on 6/3/03 4:52, Nathan M Bacheler at nmbachel@unity.ncsu.edu wrote:

> Hello everyone-
> 
> Yesterday, as I drove by a small retaining pond near my workplace in
> Morehead City, NC, I noticed a Laughing Gull flapping its wings
> violently on the surface of the water. I assumed that it had a broken
> wing, and pulled over in hopes of bringing it to an animal shelter. Upon
> closer inspection, however, both of its wings seemed to be fine. It
> looked as if one of its legs was caught by something in the water. Maybe
> it caught itself on a fishing hook, perhaps?  Then I saw something
> attached to its left leg.
> 
> It was a snapping turtle.
> 
> The turtle was approx 10" long, and was holding the bird's leg just
> below its body. My question is this: I realize a large snapping turtle
> could make a quick meal out of a duckling or similarly small-sized bird,
> but could a relatively small turtle such as the one I observed really
> kill a full-sized adult laughing gull. It seemed like the bird would be
> too difficult to drown, and as soon as the turtle let go of the birds
> leg (which, admittedly, could be hours), the bird could easily escape if
> it wasn't completely tired out. Does anyone have any similar stories, or
> know more about snapping turtle predation upon birds?
> 
> I took a couple of pictures, but then let nature take its course.  I saw
> no laughing gull carcass the next morning.  If you would like to see  a
> couple of the images, let me know - I can email them to you.
> 
> Nate Bacheler
> Morehead City, NC
> 
> 
>