Jim’s Blog

We have kept a bowl of cat food outside our back door for several years to provide food for the feral cats in the neighborhood. Lately we have been down to one cat. This siamese male cat has been around for several months. About 4 days ago the cat food has been going down faster than normal, so I figured we must have a two or three more cats in the area. The night before last, about 9 pm I looked out and saw a possum eating the food. When I turned on the light, he looked at me and then slowly wandered off.

It was really odd how the barn swallows and the mocking birds and all the other birds were gone from the back yard after the 10th of August. I thought that they had begun an early migration to the south. Then a few days later (13 August) I found out what was really going on when I saw a red-tail hawk sitting on a neighbors fence. Three days ago (14 September) the feral cat that feeds outside our back door was walking away almost to the cedar trees that line the back of our next-door neighbor’s lot, when out of nowhere a hawk swooped down and came within two feet of the cat. At this point the cat darted to safety into the cedar trees. I don’t know what type of hawk it was, but I did see bands of light and dark across the underside of his tail as he flaired it approaching the cat from above. So, there is still one or more hawks in the immediate area. So, the mystery is solved as to why the little birds disappeared.

 
 
The birds out back are providing hours of interest from our six cats. In this photo, our cat “Chip” is intently watching the barn swallow on the nest outside the window. It’s a good thing that these cats of ours are indoor-only cats, good for the birds and little critters, that is.