For The Birds...

For an urban nieghborhood (mostly planter boxes out front on driveways and little patches of green in the back) we do have a lot of wildlife. We've trapped and let go two possums (in the garage, of all places;) I had to shoo a raccoon off of the balcony -- he'd climbed up the avocado tree to get there. He must have weighed 25 lbs. We've had skunks right by the side garage door, munching away at the dry cat food. They're so tame they'll pose for flash pictures! (We quit leaving food out at night and haven't seen them since.)

We also have birds. Richie hung up a feeder and we get hummingbirds nearly all year.

There are ravens that are huge -- the flap down during the day to eat the dry cat food and you can hear their wings flap from inside the house! They also CAW CAW! repeatedly, probably to warn off the neighborhood cats from "their" food.

And, finally, the blue jays are back after an absence of at least three years. No idea where they were all this time, but now they're defiantly back and they are demanding little bastards. We put peanuts on the balcony railing (cedar) and when they've eaten them all (8 to 10 at a serving,) they perch on the railing and scream at us -- or bang their beaks on the railing. Woody the Woodpecker has nothing on them!

Cats and birds... one of our cats (the sensible one) ignores them. The other makes a great show of crouching in front of the balcony screen and making little sounds like "Lemme at'em!" Guess what? When the screen is open, she ignores them, too! All bluster, that's her.

Yes, the birds are alive and well on our street. The neighborhood cats are too smart to try messing with the ravens which are very nearly cat-sized. Peace reigns throughout.