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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / February 2004Snow again
Once again we have a couple of inches of snow on the ground, and once again Norfolk grinds to a halt with hundreds of school closures. Grrr... Anyhow, the cats are much fascinated by the sight of the birds in the garden hopping about in the snow picking up the food I leave out for them. Great cat TV :-) Waffles & Francis are chattering away, doing their Hannibal Lecter impersonations or, having deep discussions like a couple of crusty TV critics commenting upon the performances of the artistes in front of them. My feeling is the conversation is probably more along the lines of the Lecter approach :-) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ I've just been out to top up the supplies of nuts, seeds and fruit I put out for the birds. Francis slipped out behind me and, on standing in the snow, his face took on a mad look (whiskers pointed forward, eyes wide, ears black, tail up) and he started zooming round the garden like a bat out of hell. He stopped by the base of a tree and proceeded to have a pee. I tell you, the look of relief on a cat's face when he's having a pee in the snow is a hoot. You could see him go "Ahhh...." in a little cloud of steam :-) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ >I've just been out to top up the supplies of nuts, seeds and fruit I put out >for the birds. Helen, what do your birds eat? Our seem to be becoming very picky. They only hit the feeders with thistle seed and the ones with black oil sunflower seed. They just leave the regular seed, esp. the millet, they don't touch any of it. I throw peanuts in the shell out on the ground and watch the squirrels scurry around burying them, then the bluejays go right behind them stealing them. We have one woodpecker, he likes the trail mix I put in the squirrel feeder. Pfft. I remember when I was a kid we threw bread crumbs on the snow and the birds were happy to get it. Sherry >Helen, what do your birds eat? Our seem to be becoming very picky. They only >hit the feeders with thistle seed and the ones with black oil sunflower seed. Sherry, I think perhaps it depends on the types of birds. Our wild bird seeds have everything from millet to sunflower to cracked corn; In addition, we buy the thistle-type for the finches. As well as in feeders, we strew some for the ground birds, i.e., doves, etc. Sparrows, wrens, and chickadees go for the millet; blue jays, cardinals, grackles, and what-have-you eat everything else. There's never a bite left over!!! (Bread crumbs *always* work!!!!) Jeanne >Helen, what do your birds eat? Anything I put out, basically. I put out a seed mix (bought as a wild bird seed-mix), peanuts (bird-ones again), fat balls with seeds in them, breadcrumbs, old cheese (robins *love* cheese), bacon rinds snipped into small bits, dried fruits such as currants or raisins, apples - the blackbirds *adore* apples... The birds in these here parts are well fed :) The cats are hoping I feed the birds so well they become incapable of flying... >Our seem to be becoming very picky You are spoiling them, obviously ;-) Birds that regularly appear in my garden are blackbirds thrushes starlings rooks magpies pheasants sparrows dunnocks wrens coal tits blue tits great tits chaffinches greenfinches robins collared doves grey wagtails and the occasional green woodpecker or greater/lesser spotted woodpecker (I can never remeber the markings on these two spotted to tell them apart...) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ >Birds that regularly appear in my garden are >blue tits Perhaps you should wear thicker clothing at this time of year ..... :))  SignatureDavid Stevenson Storypage: http://blakjak.com/sty_menu.htm Liverpool, England, UK <cat2@blakjak.com> Emails welcome Nanki Poo: SI Bp+W B 10 Y L+ W++ C+ I T+ A- E H++ V- F Q P B+ PA+ PL+ SC Minke: SI W+Cp B 1 Y++ L-- W- C+ > Perhaps you should wear thicker clothing at this time of year ..... > > :)) Exactly the sort of comment we'd expect from a Dave... Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ You are so lucky, Helen, to have so many different birds come to your garden. Soncek only gets to see pigeons and sparrows, but that doesn't mean he is not interested in them - on the contrary, very much so. Best wishes, SignaturePolonca & Soncek <snip>> Birds that regularly appear in my garden are > blackbirds > thrushes [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune > h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ >You are so lucky, Helen, to have so many different birds come to your >garden. Soncek only gets to see pigeons and sparrows, but that doesn't mean >he is not interested in them - on the contrary, very much so. >Best wishes, She *is* lucky, that's what I was thinking. We pretty much only have finches, sparrows, 1 cardinal and 1 woodpecker. And the bluejays, they are real characters. Once in a while a new bird shows up, and that's a real treat. Recently it was a gray dove, but I never saw it again. Sherry >>You are so lucky, Helen, to have so many different birds come to your >>garden. Soncek only gets to see pigeons and sparrows, but that doesn't mean [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Sherry I am, aren't I ;-) This morning - after more snow fall during the night - I went out to top up the supplies for the birds. Quite a few didn't bother to fly off when I went out in the garden, but just sat & watched me from the safety of a tree whilst I topped up the nuds, seeds, etc. One nice thing is that most of the morning I've had a jay perching in a tree in full-view of my kitchen window. A pic of a UK jay is at http://www.wildlifeweb.f9.co.uk/birdlists/pics/jay.jpg The male pheasant has also shown up See http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/members/sunderlandphoto/Pheasant.jpg (this is a big pic) if you want to see what a male pheasant looks like - he's a handsome bird. Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ >> Helen, what do your birds eat? > [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > > Cheers, helen s All the above here, plus long tailed tits, goldfinches, linnets, pied wagtails, the occasional gull and probably others I've forgotten. Certainly great entertainment for the cats. It gets expensive though, since xmas they've got through 25kg of peanuts, 20kg of wild bird seed and a lot of apples which I get cheap as they are bruised. SignatureAdrian (Owned by Snoopy, Milo & Bagheera) A house is not a home, without a cat. >All the above here, plus long tailed tits, goldfinches, linnets, pied >wagtails, the occasional gull and probably others I've forgotten. Certainly >great entertainment for the cats. It gets expensive though, since xmas >they've got through 25kg of peanuts, 20kg of wild bird seed and a lot of >apples which I get cheap as they are bruised. Yes, the little winged blighters can rack up the costs ;-) I get the odd specimen of the ones you mention, but not the long-tailed tits or the linnets. I see them (LTTs) out in the hedgerows if I'm out walking, but I've not had any visit the garden. I get the occasional blue flash (ooh-err Missus!) of a kingfisher which is nice. Funnily enough I get to see the pied wagtails quite a bit in town, but not out here in the village. Owls are a common sight hereabouts - but again, not in the garden. I see barn owls flying during the day as well as at night and a sight I particularly like is when out cycling, I come across a little owl perched atop a telegraph pole. Little owls are seriously cute :-) We get quite a lot of wild geese round here and oh, yes, ducks & moorhens on the stream at times - occasionally a heron will visit - much to the dislike of Waffles who will chase off a heron from *her* stream and *her* trout :-) I must admit, one of the things I like living out here in the sticks is the relative abundance of wildlife, be it finned, feathered, furred, reptilian or buggy! Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$ > Yes, the little winged blighters can rack up the costs ;-) > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Cheers, helen s I can still remeber the thrill I felt the first time I saw a barn owl in flight, a most beautiful bird. SignatureAdrian (Owned by Snoopy, Milo & Bagheera) A house is not a home, without a cat. >Anyhow, the cats are much fascinated by the sight of the birds in the garden >hopping about in the snow picking up the food I leave out for them. Great cat [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >Cheers, helen s LOL!! That's a *very* good analagy! We had one day that the ground was covered. The birds sure did hit the feeders that day. Bootsie remembers that day fondly. Sherry |
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