I am going to start a series to share the various creatures that appear in our yard. Some stay, some are regulars, and some might never be seen more than once.
While putting the kettle on for tea, I noticed what might be a starling in our backyard, and ran for the camera.
It was soon joined by two others. Realizing the shots might be terrible through the not the cleanest windows, I tried to step out to our side porch in the hopes of getting a better image, and as soon as I set foot on the porch, all three, along with a handful of sparrows took wing.
After they left, I hung around in the kitchen as my tea brewed, hoping they would return. Soon, a tuxedo kitty I do not recall seeing before (no collar) wandered into our yard, much to the consternation of our neighboring dog. I realized the tux might have been hunting, and felt a wee bit better that I had scared the birds off.
We have a fair amount of either collared but not always tagged outdoor, or outright feral cats here. Some hunt the chipmunks or fruitlessly chase the few squirrels we have. Some, sadly, hunt the ground nesters in the various bushes and cover we have. When our neighbors to the west got a kitten, she delighted in hunting (but never quite catching) the grasshoppers.
One thing I also want to mention is that the soffit facia on our garage is sagging in one corner. Same corner had a wee opening that two birds took advantage of last year to build a nest behind. We actually had planned to rework that this year both to close the gap, and put in a hole and back plate for them to nest again (with the section with the hole removeable for later clean out), but before we got a chance this year…new nest (I think sparrows again). We’re not sure what we’ll do now other than screw up the gap piece to the point where the side entry door no longer scrapes the sagging piece, but leaving room for them to exit/enter. If we do that, we will definitely follow through with our plan in the fall when the family moves on.
