Re: Pure predation

["Norton, Patrick" <Patrick.Norton@state.me.us>]

Roger Stephenson wrote:

>Sorry to pop the bubble, but there exist an example of pure predator in   
N.
America. The Osprey. It will not take a dead fish.<

In the 1844 edition of his book_Birds of America_, John James Audubon   
describes carrion eating by Osprey, as quoted below (my note in   
parentheses):

"I have observed many of these birds (Osprey; or "fish hawks") at the   
approach of winter, sailing over the lakes near the Mississippi, where   
they feed on the fish which the Wood Ibis kills, the Hawks themselves   
being unable to discover them whilst alive in the muddy water with which   
these lakes are filled. There the Ibises wade among the water in immense   
flocks, and so trample the bottom, as to convert the lakes into filthy   
puddles, in which the fishes are unable to respire with ease. They rise   
to the surface, and are instantly killed by the Ibises. The whole surface   
is sometimes covered in this manner with dead fish, so that not only are   
the Ibises plentifully supplied, but Vultures, Eagles, and Fish Hawks   
come to participate in the spoil."