Fish in backyard....

[Axxe55]

So, my GF comes in the house and tells me to come look, there is a fish in the backyard.
She says that it's by the bird feeder.
I go out to look, and there is a damn fish in my backyard.

She was thinking someone might have thrown it over the fence to hurt our dog.
I'm thinking that due to it being partially eaten, a bird must have dropped it.

What say ye?

Trying to upload picture and it says "file too large".

ETA: picture

View attachment 158562

THAT'S PRETTY STRANGE! I'D GUESS MAYBE A BIRD AS WELL!

 

[kbaxter60]

Well, it did rain pretty hard a couple of days ago....
eta: Without a head, he couldn't see where he was swimming.

Are you saying someone is getting a little fish head? That's messed up, bro.

 

[Texasjack]

Back when I had to occasionally inspect the tops of floating roof tanks, it was not unusual to find 50+ fish in various states of decay on the roof. Birds carry them and sometimes screw up and drop them.

 

[kbaxter60]

Back when I had to occasionally inspect the tops of floating roof tanks, it was not unusual to find 50+ fish in various states of decay on the roof. Birds carry them and sometimes screw up and drop them.

Sincere question: why only fish? Squirrels, rabbits, other assorted rodents....
They only drop fish because they're slippery when wet?

 

[Texasjack]

Sincere question: why only fish? Squirrels, rabbits, other assorted rodents....
They only drop fish because they're slippery when wet?

Actually I think it has more to do with what the birds eat, or how they eat them. Lots of birds eat fish and if the fish isn't bite-sized, they will carry it out of the water. Only predators (owls, hawks) or scavengers (buzzards) eat rabbits and squirrels, and they generally rip them open and eat them on the spot. I have seen a red tail hawk carry a large snake to the top of a power pole, then bite it's head off and stand there gloating.

I worked at a chemical plant that had large water treatment ponds. From time to time they would have a big fish kill (unintentionally). It seemed like every fish-eating bird in SE Texas flew in. They would eat until they were so full they really couldn't fly. We were pretty thankful for the birds because the smell was terrible and there was no good way to get rid of the fish other than let the birds do it.

A refinery where I worked had a firewater pond that had problems with green stuff growing in it. The bought some grass carp and in a relatively short time they cleaned out all the plant life in the pond. Then the cormorants (snake birds) showed up. In 3 days they managed to eat every carp in the pond. Then they sat around on plant equipment - railings, catwalks, etc. - and crapped for a week. And the crap smelled like dead fish. Everybody wanted to kill the birds, but there wasn't any legal or practical way to do it, so the whole thing just had to run it's course.