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The Backyard & Beyond - November 2003
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Have you ever wondered what life is all about? Most of us have. Well, I have the answer. It's about bird watching!!! We do it everywhere. We do it in the backyard. We do it while driving. We do it on vacation or for vacation. We do it in refuges, the local pond or trees, the mountains, the shore, wetlands, grasslands and more. We even do it while walking down the street. You can even do it at night if you look for owls or listen for migrating birds in the dark skies.
October 1st, I got up late - 10 AM, heard the Band-tailed Pigeons growling and fighting for sunflower chips on the ledge feeder near the bedroom window. Since Arden and I keep a weekly yard list, this was the first one for the week for me. I took a shower, dried my hair then looked out the kitchen window. The sun was shining and I began checking off a couple species. Within minutes the back
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American Goldfinch
drinking form
Cupid Fountain
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yard was a frenzy of birds. They came for Mt. Ash berries, cracked corn, thistle, millet, suet and of course drinks and bathing. I had 16 species and hundreds of birds in 1/2 hour, all from the privacy and comfort of my own window.
What a Life!!! This is what it is all about - at least for me on October 1, 2003 in the late morning hours. Now on with the rest of the day. Too late for breakfast. Must be time for lunch.
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Cats and Coyotes
There has been several articles in The Columbian Newspaper lately about the loss of pet cats to coyotes. Some people think it is natural for cats to be out in the wild and hunt. But it is anything but natural. Pet cats are not natural. They have been bred from a small wild cat species over centuries to produce the many domestic types that we see today. How can anyone call these pets "natural"? On the other hand, coyotes (that will eat cats) and birds (that cats eat) are natural. There is a natural balance between prey and predator in the wild but when man intervenes that bal
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Coyote Photo
taken by Sherry Hagen at Ridgefield NWR
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ance is upset. House cats were bred for pets. They were not created to prey upon the birds that so many of us love. Cats still have the instinct to hunt and have a huge impact upon our songbird population by killing hundreds of millions of birds each year even though they are fed indoors. Stray cats become feral cats that multiply without any control and without a cat food bowl, they are forced to find their own food. Rodents and BIRDS!!!
Cats ARE NOT to blame, their owners ARE.
The solution is simple:
KEEP CATS INDOORS
It's not only good for the birds but great for the cats.
They have a lower chance of catching diseases
They won't get hit or killed by a vehicle
They won't be harassed by humans
They won't bring in pests like fleas & ticks
They won't get injured or eaten by a wild animal
To learn more about keeping cats indoors, go to:
http://www.abcbirds.org/cats/
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