Our german shepherd, in his younger days, was able to catch birds. It was the most amazing thing to me. I saw him do it twice, and was able to rescue the birds. He would sneak up behind them while they were on the ground, like a stalking lion. I taught him Not to do this (or perhaps I just taught him not to do this in front of me). He also caught mice in this same way (we were living on a farm at the time, where mice are just a part of farm life). He was a superior mouser - the two cats we got for this job were not interested.