Ways to tell if a bird was dispatched by cat or bird of prey?

[F.S]

Here I noticed an interesting clue; some of the feathers had missing tips. I imagine they were damaged while being pulled by a sharp beak.
Who could be the predator?

[ram_k]

Interesting !

[typoclerk]

Idrk… cats eat birds.

[teellbee]

That is an interesting notion about the damaged feathers.

[teellbee]

Some years back, we had an unusual number of raptors around and there were occasional noisy ‘wars’ between them and the crows.

A couple of times, after hearing such an altercation; we came upon fresh bird bones ~completely~ stripped of all flesh.

So, I would guess that bare bones could be a reliable sign of bird-on-bird predation/aggression.

[teellbee]

Here is a observation of a bird being killed (?) by a rival, but then unexpectedly saved by a cat:

(Warning: slightly graphic)
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/85241706

As to the manner of death, the victor was seeming to peck the downed bird with its needle like beak.

But, then, my cat intervened, and both flew off!

Here is the hero of the hour:

[fffffffff]

Have you seen the moment of kill? Cause it looks quite like post mortem mating.

[teellbee]

@fffffffff

Cause it looks quite like post mortem mating.

Whoa…
When I first noticed, both birds were on the ground. The “victor” lifted off and hovered a couple feet away when I opened the door to take pics, but he soon returned to harass the downed bird further. I thought it was dead, but I was happily surprised when it flew off after my cat mouthed it for a second before I kicked her off the bird.

I have a couple more pictures I could post, not sure if they are better. The birds were both males.

[fffffffff]

Oh, never saw hummingbirds fighting on the ground! Very cool observation!

[teellbee]

Anna’s Hummingbirds are profuse here year round, and these Anna’s hummingbirds are very territorial. But their fights don’t usually go that far. Most of the hummingbird fights I’ve seen (and I see them frequently) just involves bravado and chasing. Once before, I saw two hummers in flight engage each other and start to fall together, but they broke it off during the fall. I’ve never seen such a “duel-to-the-death” before, though I’ve read about it.

[teellbee]

Okay! My husband found a series of footage of this encounter on our doorbell cam! It likely lasted for over an hour. The videos started at 6:37 am showing the one bird already on the ground and the last video is at 7:29 am when my cat and I ended up “rescuing” the downed bird - it can be seen flying off! One of the earlier videos shows the “victor” trying to pick up and drag the downed bird into the bushes. Whoa! Maybe this was more of a rescue than a fight?

Update: Update: After viewing doorbell cam videos clips, my husband says it looks more like the “victor” was protecting the unconscious bird on the ground (maybe it flew into the balcony frame?). Looking at the videos, I can see why he says that. He is editing the clips to combine them and crop out distracting images of our bodies (you’ll thank me) to make a video showing the events from 6:30 am to 7:30 am. I will try to post it on YouTube later.