Re: Don't know whether to laugh or cry
- From: "Granby" <spaz@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:38:14 -0500
Jill, I had something like this here when I had the baby Hummingbirds. I
bought one of the "Super soaker" water things the kids play with. No point,
with my sight, of trying the little squirt bottles or guns. I finally
convinced the neighbors cat to leave the birds alone. Now, if I see a cat
in my yard, I soak it. Can't tell who it is from a distance but, water
doesn't harm them and they can all learn the rules.
"jmcquown" <j_mcquown@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:j5ednUTCSsGC9jjVnZ2dnUVZ_hqdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
There's an 8 or 9 foot tall skinny tree of some sort by the kitchen
windows on one side of the walkway to the front door. It's all branches
at the bottom but has a bushy, leafy top and in the winter it gets bright
red berries. There's a family of Cardinals nesting in the tree. (For our
non US friends, this is a cardinal: http://tinyurl.com/n52ry ).
Cardinals are beautiful birds and wonderful parents; the male and female
tend the young equally. Yep, daddy sticks around to change diapers and do
feedings ;)
The last few days I've heard the male and female cardinals PIPPING loudly
(distress calls). Each time I investigated I found the female cardinal
sitting opposite the tree on the other side of the walkway atop a very low
shepherd's hook, no more than three feet off the ground (a windchime hangs
from it). The male cardinal was on a bush nearby.
Also each time, one (or the other) of the neighbor's cats has been out
there sitting at the base of the tree, staring up. The cardinals are
*clearly* trying to distract the cat(s) away from the nest.
Unfortunately, they aren't like some other North American birds which will
physically attack animals of much greater size who venture too close. So
I've been going out and shooing the cats away, "HSSSSST! Go home!"
Last evening night I heard the birds again and this time they sounded even
more distressed. (From many years of bird watching and bird feeding, I
can tell the difference.) I looked but didn't see either cat so I went
outside. One of the cats was in the top of the tree! I yelled, he
scrambled down and ran away.
The good news is mama cardinal went back to the tree. A while later I
could just make out through the window it appeared she was feeding (a?)
little one(s). So the cat didn't get the baby/babies.
This morning one cat made his displeasure known. They normally use a
patch of pine straw some 40-50 feet away under a tree as their "litter
box". Not this morning. The big brother deliberately walked right up to
the back of the house (my desk is set up right there by a window),
squatted and urinated! He was watching me the entire time. Heh. Pee all
you want, pal, I'm still not going to let you get those baby birds if
there's anything I can do about it!
Jill
.
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- Don't know whether to laugh or cry
- From: jmcquown
- Don't know whether to laugh or cry
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