Predatory Attack by Green-Tailed Towhee on Sagebrush Lizard

Abstract

Several species of passerine birds that do not normally feed on vertebrate prey will attack and kill vertebrates if opportunity and motivation coincide. For example, the American robin (Turdus migratorius) is known to attack and feed on small snakes (Richmond 1975; Erickson 1978) and salamanders (Wilson and Simon 1985). The bare-eyed robin (T. nudigenis) sometimes consumes Anolis lizards (Wunderle 1981). The hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) has been reported feeding salamanders to its offspring (Coker 1931), and the tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) has been observed subduing a small salamander and attempting to cache it (Hendricks and Hendricks 1985). Documenting opportunistic predatory events such as the above is worthwhile because these interactions