Air Gun Home :: View topic

mod90 · Veteran Member

It's known as a Kisskadee. Anyway, I shot this belligerent little bastard this morning while he was abusing the local songbirds, & oddly enough I discovered his blood isn't red. It's blue Shocked

. I was just wondering if this is normal for this species.

viper2788 · Member

hmm.. couldnt find anything on it on the first page of google... but as far as i know, the cause for blue blood is due to lack of serotonin in the blood. horseshoe crabs have blue blood for this very reason, tried and tested last time my buddies and i caught one Wink

but as for your bird, im not sure if its natural or just a defection. probably the latter...

have any pics of the shot btw?

cactusrat · Member

Great Kiskadee only occur in South Texas in the United States. And are protected by state laws and federal laws.

If you do not live in South Texas, than you just shot a rare bird where you live at.

Kiskadees do not harm other birds. They feed on bugs for the most part. They may take small minnows out of a fish pond, but there is still no reason to shoot them.

Crosman140 · Senior Member

There are only two bird species in the United States that are NOT protected by at least a hunting season if not altogether...

English (house) sparrow
Starling

Please don't shoot any other birds other than those listed above unless you shoot them in their designated hunting season and you have a license to do so.

If you live outside the US...disregard this post.

Slavia · Moderator

In Trinidad and Tobago where mod90 lives this bird is common and not endangered. We'll just have to leave it to him to determine if the bird can be legally hunted.

I have no idea about the blue blood.

cactusrat · Member

cactusrat · Member

I apologize for jumping on Mod90. I didn’t stop to think that he might live out of the US.

No, I’m not against hunting. I do it all the time.

Sorry Mod90. Please keep on posting your adventures in hunting.

mod90 · Veteran Member

Thanks for the save Slavia Smile

Yeah , here these mofos are EVERYWHERE!!! You cant escape, them even if you hide inside your house Laughing

But they really tend to abuse other birds here, especially songbirds, thats why I took him out. I wouldn't call it hunting,it's more like occasional pest eradication when they're abusing other smaller birds.

But back to the topic. This bird I shot this morning has blue blood, not de-oxygenated blood, think ball point pen blue is what I mean. So I was wondering, is this normal for this species? Or is it an indicator of something about to go awry within this species locally & is it transferable within other migrant species?
Sorry for sounding like a zoologist.

On a side note, I took another possum tonight, this time with the AT44-10. All I can say is that this gun made a POI hole about 1/2" wide at 20 yards, with 10.5 grain pellets with about 110-115 bar in the reservoir. So I'm kinda satisfied with its performance thus far. Haven't had time to tweak it yet tho.

Crosman140 · Senior Member

SMP · Silver Status Member

Mod....How is the Hatsan? I didn't know you had received it.

I think a small write up would be good Thumb Up!

jason3064 · Member

hey mod i dont usually shoot kiskadees but you have me curious about this blue blood thing,i'll shoot one tomorrow and see if that one you shot was a special case.

mod90 · Veteran Member

jason3064 Ok, just dont shoot them all Laughing

SMP you're right. I'll give you guys my thoughts on the Hatsan by saying a few things.

Now I've heard of some older reviews where folks said the AT44-10 is crap, then some saying it was getting better, then some said it was a decent beginners rifle. Those reviews were either all wrong, or Hatsan Arms co. has been listening to what people want and working on improving their product. The gun has a decent weight & balance so its pretty easy to carry. Trigger is fully adjustable. I took almost all the first stage off the trigger & dropped the pull weight down to approx 12 ounces. Since that the trigger pulls cleanly & crisp with almost no resistance. The side lever cocking action is smooth, and pellets load without any issues.
This little gun is really powerful for its size, and does make an excellent hunting rifle. Even in smooth bore it is extremely accurate, giving 1/4" groups at 50 yards. The .177 gives 45 full power shots from 195-110 bar, it may get close to 50 shots if I increase the fill pressure to 200 & drop the cut off to 105, but so far I see no need to do so. I noticed this gun has a preference for longer & heavier pellets though. So far I've taken over 50 rats at the family estate, the furthest of which was a huge bastard 87 yards out and the shot went through & through the skull. A few birds at varying ranges and one manicou (possum) at 20 yards with a heart shot that went straight through as well. I saw his blood spray when it passed through, & the sucker fell of the fence almost simultaneously.

As I said The AT44-10 is a fine little rifle,with efficient air consumption, and sufficient power to be used as a pest control and medium sized game hunter.

SMP · Silver Status Member

Sounds like a fine rifle...

1/4" groups at 50yds with a smooth bore...wow that is awesome.

? does Hatsan supply the smooth bore or does it go to a secondary compliance importer to be reworked?

In my misspent youth I had an offer to live in Trinidad to work on race cars....but I passed it up because of a girl Shoot Yourself

mod90 · Veteran Member

They manufacture the smooth bore in at the factory in Turkey for our market. Yeah, I was really surprised as well during the sighting in process to find how accurate this rifle is. Though I had read somewhere that there wasn't really any largely significant difference in trajectories when comparing between smooth vs rifled barrels, but
This is a really nice place, issues & all Laughing

This place has a very diverse ethnic range that has influenced every facet of its culture. But it isn't too late for you to visit though. You should come on down.