Birdie Birdie Birdie
Posted on May 12, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 24 Comments
My father-in-law put up a bird feeder on our front porch the other day and the birds figured it out about a day later; now they’re sucking down birdfeed at a truly astounding rate. They’re also availing themselves of the birdbath, as you can see here. I have some mild concern that the cats will one day look out the window and think hmmmm… smorgasbord, but so far that hasn’t happened, and the birds around here seem to be sufficiently paranoid to avoid the claws of the cats. In the meantime, it’s nice to be able to look out the window and see all sorts of feathered things.
You should build a squirrel launcher:
http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/richard.dudley/archive/2004/12/23/38611.aspx
When I was a child of maybe nine, my sister had this insane, hunter-killer cat—”Patches”—who used to hide around the house and occasionally leap out in a flurry of teeth and claws and attach itself to my legs. It actually stalked me around my own home. In fact, my sister was the only member of our household loved by that malevolent creature.
Anyway, this cat used to leave heaps of bird and rodent corpses on our back stoop until we finally put a small bell on its caller. Apparently “belling the cat” is not just some quaint aphorism or Disney cartoon; it drastically cut down on the genocide in our backyard. Just a tip for you John.
…and, of course, by “caller” I mean “collar”…d’oh!
My mother-in-law’s cat could even catch hummingbirds. He’s just wait patiently at the base of a bush that they’d commonly land in.
If feeders become popular, they can also attract hawks who come to feed on the song birds and doves. It’s like a miniature savannah watering hole.
Maybe someone here can help me identify a bird.
It looked like a regular red-winged blackbird except the red patch on the wings also had a bright yellow stripe next to it. I don’t recall seeing anything like it before here in Minnesota but there was a flock that I think was passing through, traveling back north.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Tripp, it might just be a regional variation.
I found a pic of a red winged black bird that had a yellow stripe:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Red-winged_Blackbird.html#description
Tripp, all the red-winged blackbirds I’ve seen in Quebec and Ontario had red and yellow stripes, so you probably saw a flock of ours heading back.
You know, I thought my Burmese kitten brothers would eat birds, or at least attack them, but they really only evinced intense but rapidly waning interest, eventually ignoring them completely.
We even had one in the townhouse for a few hours, and they pretty much left it alone once they sniffed it a couple times.
I guess if they’re indoor cats, they only attack birds when they’re hungry or excited (by way of contrast, they attack each other several times a day).
Oh, possibly interesting tidbit: cats are apparently a non-trivial threat to birds’ survival.
If the cats did follow their nature and do the claw thing on the poor, defenseless birds, then we can rest assured IT WAS ALL BUSH’S FAULT!
Uh, sorry, wrong thread…..
Both of our cats are indoor/outdoor. Lopsided cat spends most of his time outside, Ghlaghghee spends most of it inside. Both have brought us little “prizes,” although in each case not recently.
Rex, my cat who is no more, liked to hunt. I remember once when I lived in Fresno I saw him leap up on my patio and bat a bird right out of the sky. The bird managed to escape before Rex could follow through, but you gotta admit — that’s still pretty damn cool.
Bill Marcy:
“IT WAS ALL BUSH’S FAULT!”
Now, now, Bill. Politics in the politics thread, birds and cats in the birds and cats thread.
Mary,
Tripp, all the red-winged blackbirds I’ve seen in Quebec and Ontario had red and yellow stripes, so you probably saw a flock of ours heading back.
Is that in Canada somewhere? (Sorry, bad joke)
The Red-winged blackbirds of my youth in Illinois all had just the red patch. Maybe the yellow stripers are able to travel farther. They were muttering something about curling but I couldn’t get the gist of it.
Bill Marcy,
Ok, your post was inappropriate on this thread.
But it was still funny.
Stan,
Thanks for the link. I found this interesting bird gossip:
The Red-winged Blackbird is a highly polygynous species, with one male having up to 15 different females making nests in his territory. In some populations 90% of territorial males have more than one female. But, from one quarter to up to half of the young in “his” nests do not belong to the territorial male. Instead they have been sired by neighboring males.
John,
I know it has been a year or so since I last visited here much so I have to ask what’s with all the Angry White Men(tm)? Is it because of Old Man’s War?
Huh?
Look, we’re just tired of this little birds on our damn lawn!
Give me a heads up if you catch a glimpse of hope.
I hear rumor that Pandora thought she had tossed it in the bottom of a box last time she moved.
(And I love the fact that I have the sort of friends who will actually comprehend (and put up with) a series of bizarre references. Happy belated. I had “send John a card” on my list of things to do, so that almost counts.)
Heh. No worries, Regan.
I too love feeding birds. If yours start to really eat you out of house and home, may I recommend feeding them safflower seed? Aggressive, heavy-eating birds like blackbirds (a real nuisance in these parts) will not eat safflower, but pretty, nice birds will. It costs a little more than other seed, but it ends up lasting longer. And hummingbird feeders are equally fascinating.
The house where I grew up had the birdfeeder right outside a big picture window. The cats, both indoor cats, would sit on the sill of that window and watch the birds, their heads moving up and down, watching intently. We called it “Kitty TV”.
John,
Huh?
Oh – I was referring to Bill Marcy and Tim and CoolBlue for the most part. Looking back I suppose they don’t really make up a huge part of the comments.
Ah. Well, the readership here has gone up significantly in the last several months, so there are a lot of new folks. I’m not entirely sure what to attribute that increase to.
Very good site. Thank you.