Tag Archives: Cats

Thursday – 1.26.2017

2:50 PM – This is the cat that’s been visiting at night. He’s one of several feral cats in the neighborhood.

12:05 AM – This is just a clip of standard platform feeder activity – a Blue Jay having a snack. The chopped nuts are very popular with all the species.

There’s some camera-shake in the video. I noticed it before, but so far haven’t figured out what’s causing it. The mount seems secure. This is one of the problems/changes that we’re going to address in the next few days. We have a camera pointed at the ground near a couple of the feeders on the path, but it doesn’t pick up the bird action – they blend into the leaves and ground cover. That needs to be relocated. The other is aimed at a birdbath that sits too high to pick up any good shots of birds (or squirrels or raccoons). That’s also going to be moved.

Sunday – 1.22.2017

3:15 PM – The rain filled the deck platform feeder with water. It covered up the small seeds the Sparrows eat, resulting in some disappointed birds:

However, the black oil sunflower seeds preferred by the Cardinals floats. He experienced no interruption in service due to weather.

This Mourning Dove has a big enough beak to get whatever he wants out of the water.

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10:25 AM – Plenty of White Throated Sparrows this morning. They moved on and some Purple Finches took over. It’s interesting to watch the interaction between the male and female Finches. The male drives off one female, but allows another to stay in the feeder. His mate?

In the following clip, immediately afterwards, the male and female couple are sharing the feeder. When another female approaches, the male again drives her off.

In subsequent clips, the female finch drives off other females. I conclude that the male and female Finches are a couple, and have higher status than the ‘single’ females that approach the feeder. Or maybe not. One thing is clear, Mr. and Mrs. Purple Finch don’t like to share.

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12:50 AM – The cat that visits periodically came around a while ago, looking for nuts. We took in the deck platform feeder so as not to attract ‘Rocky’ Raccoon, so he had no luck. I’d put out food for the animal but I don’t want him there all the time, and don’t want all the other cats, raccons and possums that would follow him.

Wednesday – 1.18.2017

5:35 AM – One of the ‘wild’ cats spent about 10 minutes at the feeder this morning – actually about a half hour ago. He seems to be picking out the chopped nuts D added to the mix yesterday.

Lots of Blue Jay activity. In this clip two Jays appear. One is slightly smaller than the other, and the chest marking is a little different. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website (the best), male and female Blue Jays look about the same.

We saw a couple of videos on YouTube showing birds (and squirrels) enthusiastically carrying off peanuts in the shell. Here, a Blue Jay picks up a peanut (in between sessions at the feeder) and flies off. Less than 10 seconds later (before he had time to eat the nut) he’s back at the water trough, so I assume he didn’t care for it.

We post Cardinal videos all the time, but here’s one that has a good view of Mr. Cardinal breaking open and eating Black Oil Sunflower seeds. He’s really good (naturally) at cracking the seed, discarding the chaff and keeping the meat.

Friday – 1.13.2017

8:05 AM – This brief video shows a White Breasted Nuthatch landing in the platform feeder, grabbing a nut and flying off. It’s unusual since the bird doesn’t look like most of the other Nuthatches I’ve seen in the yard. Those have a sort of off white/brownish breast, while this one is bright white. Same bird, though:

4:05 AM – The cat was back last night for a drink of water. Or one of the cats, anyway – it’s hard to tell the difference sometimes, and we have a rotating cast of those animals around here. Actually, he starts to drink, then changes his mind.

Monday – 12.19.2016

10:50 PM – Not many birds in the birdbaths the last few days. Lots are feeding, but I suppose the recent rain makes the water less interesting to them. Squirrels, on the other hand, are regular visitors. Here’s a video of one that drinks, then wades out a little into the pan.

One  bird that did show up is the Blue-Gray Gnat Catcher. Here he is, checking out the floating sprinkler. We put it out today when the sun was shining, but it got cloudy again, so not much sprinkling.

Finally, here’s another video of that pathetic thirsty cat trying to get a drink from the frozen bath in the middle of the night.

Sunday – 12.11.2016

2:15 PM – Another cold night. We took the water out of the birdbaths over night. D added some to one of the feeders about 4:00 AM. It froze pretty quick. We had a thirsty cat come around last night, and then this morning. Here’s a video of him checking the bath for water, finding only ice. I don’t really want to attract cats, for obvious reasons, but don’t want to see them do without.

After we replaced the ice with liquid water this morning, the birds came around. The water wasn’t frozen, but it was cold. That didn’t stop them from bathing. I saw Mrs. Cardinal and a Carolina Chickadee, and this sparrow: