Tue 4 Mar 2008

What is a Good Cat?

Posted in Caitie, Cats, What is a Good Cat? at 0:05

Our bird feeder has caught Caitie-Belle's attention...and she's looking to catch something else.

The calendar says that spring begins later this month, but in this part of the world, it’s making an early appearance. My mother in West Virginia told me that they were going to have a high near 70 degrees, and while we’re not expecting it to get quite that warm in our part of Eastern Pennsylvania, I still wouldn’t be surprised to see robins make an appearance very soon. However, just because it’s March doesn’t mean we can’t get any more snow, so any robins that show up now may still yet find themselves hopping through the falling flakes while wondering where the warm weather went.

As long as the weather doesn’t match the calendar, we’ll keep filling the bird feeders set up just outside the living room window and the back door. We also tried to accommodate ground-feeding birds like juncos and cardinals during the worst winter weather by tossing sunflower seeds on the snow near the feeders. But when the snow cover melted a couple of weeks ago, leftover seeds began growing, and Pat ended up clearing out handfuls of sunflower sprouts.

The feeders also provide entertainment for the cats, who are stuck inside during bad weather. When finches are gorging themselves on sunflower seed just a few inches away, Caitie’s hunting instincts particularly go on red alert. Squawking and her teeth chattering, it’s plain that she would love to invite them inside for a meal.

Still, she’s not the only one at our house with ulterior motives. After one heavy snowfall, we saw rabbit tracks going through our back yard, and we bought a bag of carrots for the cottontail. Yes, we were concerned for the animal, but we were also concerned it would nip off our plants in search of food. It’s true — we were paying protection to a rabbit.

5 Comments

  1. Icon BB said,

    Tue 4 Mar 2008 at 13:20

    haha! Lucky rabbit - you are very good to pay protection money…
    Have you tried any of the bird feeders that stick to the windows with suction cups? We’re thinking of getting one for the upstairs windows. (Our last place had a great tree for squirrel and birds, now all we have is grass)

  2. Derby said,

    Tue 4 Mar 2008 at 21:43

    Mum feeds the birdies too. I like it because I have lots of birides to watch. But our bunnies eat the seeds that the birds spill. We do not pay off the buns.

  3. Mickey said,

    Tue 4 Mar 2008 at 22:55

    We put out lots of seeds for the birds abd squirrels that insist on coming.
    Last year we had one sunflower grow and bloom,thanks to these critters.
    Only one :)
    Hurry up Spring!!!!!

  4. Coll said,

    Wed 5 Mar 2008 at 10:34

    I say.. send some of that spring like weather over here .. PLEASE. Still -20 here and plenty of snow. I know spring will come but I really really would like a few little signs. I fill my bird feeder and squirrel feeder every day . And we have rabbits living under our shed. How these little critters and birds survive our winter I still don’t understand.. but I’ll betcha they are just as anxious for spring as I am .

  5. William said,

    Wed 5 Mar 2008 at 23:35

    Ha ha ha, paying protection to a rabbit!