Got him!

[bluesilverkdg]

I am so freakin' proud of my photography skillz lately, let me tell ya!

Porch kitty has been coming around for the past two months, but until now, I'd never been able to get a picture of him. I have found his weakness. Canned cat food. Normally, if he's eating and he sees me, even from far away, through the door and back in the living room, he skeedaddles. But evidently canned cat food is his Achilles heel and he is willing to sit still long enough to try and scarf it down, even with the imminent danger of Big Scary Human just around the corner. I *was* very quiet and very discreet while taking these, but I know he saw me a couple of times and he didn't run until he was through eating. He also brought me a gift while I was at the grocery store. A nice dead rat in my driveway. Yay?

So, here he is in all his flop-eared glory.



(Is it funny that Porch Kitty, who has probably never seen the inside of a house, used a litterbox or been petted by a human, is eating his food out of a Pfaltzgraff bowl?)

AND I also got this shot from the window of the cat room, right by their big kitty condo. Unbelievably, this was not using a zoom lens. The bird feeder is almost against the window, and I was right up on the other side of it, so the bird was RIGHT THERE. The cats have a real... birds-eye view. Ba dum ching.



Is that just the coolest thing? You can actually see the seed in its mouth. I'm learning a lot about birds and identifying them by sight and song, and according to the internets, this is a tufted titmouse. I have a lot of them, and they are quite fascinating. They'll take a seed, then fly off to the woods, come back, take another seed, fly off to the woods. I wish I could tell them "you'd get a lot more bang for your buck if you just sat here and ate..?" But they probably wouldn't listen. Evidently that is a trait of the tufted titmouse. They are nervous little birdies. And very territorial! I'd posted on Facebook recently about how birds were fighting over one feeder, when there were seven others with virtually the same seeds in them. It was these guys. Upon reading about them, it seems that they are mostly territorial during breeding season. So maybe I'm getting ready to have some babies.

So yeah, that's a bit more of my backyard zoo. It's Wild Kingdom around here.

Comments

[nessachan.livejournal.com]

Awww your kitty is so cute!

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Well, he's not really "mine." That's the feral cat I feed on my porch. He really can't stand me, but I think he tolerates my presence, because I give him food. :-) The raccoon evidently likes and trusts me more than the cat! Ha!

[dda.livejournal.com]

My Dad successfully "made friends" with a feral mother cat and her kittens enough to eventually adopt them. In his usual imaginative naming scheme, he called her, "Momma Cat" and the black kitten, "Blackie."

As for the birds, the chickadees we have up here do the same thing; I called it, "doing laps"; they'd fly from tree to feeder, grab a seed and fly back to the tree. For hours. But hey, free food! :-)

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

I was just talking yesterday with a friend of mine who has a formerly feral outdoor kitty. She said it took over a year for him to come around, but now, while still not totally trusting of people, he's much friendlier. I've heard that if cats are not socialized by the age of 9 weeks, they will typically retain some of their feral tendencies. I've always been confused by Misty. We adopted her when she was approximately that age and she was totally wild. It took her ten years to get to the point where she would even be in the same room with me comfortably. And she was in the house, with three other housecats all the time! I have no clue what her thinking was. She has only recently, like within the past few weeks, gotten to the point where she will get on the bed with me and rest her paws on my legs. Still no lap, but she's edging ever closer. She will be 14 next month, and has been with me since she was a baby.

Cats! Bah.

I need to learn to ID chickadees, because I'm sure we have those, too. I now have ten bird feeders, so needless to say, my backyard is busy!

[dda.livejournal.com]

"Momma Cat" was totally skittish; I couldn't get near her. However, she had her "safe space"; if she was on Dad's bed, she'd purr and let you pet and skritch her, etc.! It was an amazing transformation and it was echoed in another feral cat we adopted, named Butterscotch (yeah, she was white with orange patches). Also totally skittish but in this case, the "safe space" was the couch and my brother's bed. Same deal. Perhaps you just need to find Misty's safe space. :-)

Black-capped chickadees are small (slightly smaller than titmice) birds with a black top of the head. Their distinctive call is how they got their name; it sounds like, "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee." I'm sure Google Images has a zillion pictures of them.

I miss having the feeders in the back yard but I don't miss the work of refilling them in the winter!

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

She is finally out and about the whole house. She had a bed that my mother had gotten them for Christmas years ago, where she spent most of her time, so I guess that was her safe space. Now, it appears to be under the nightstand in my bedroom, although she is really enjoying the new cat tree, too. She has slowly been coming around for years, but it's only recently that she seems to understand I won't hurt her. I had company recently, and she very begrudgingly let one of my guests pet her. That was a first.

I meant to tell you, a stray dog adopted us when I was a kid, probably 12 or so, I guess. She was a little white terrier mix with black and orange spots, sort of like a calico version of a dog. Within short order, she gave birth to five puppies. So, we started calling her Momma Puppy. I tried to actually give names to the kids, but my mother actually called one of them "Momma Puppy's Puppy." Wow. Original!

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Oh, and in my imaginative name scheming, I have been calling him PK for Porch Kitty. No other names for him are speaking to me at the moment, though!

[lindapendant.livejournal.com]

That cat has the look of 'You've come close enough. Back off or things will get ugly.' and also, 'I can totally outrun you.' all over his face.

I see that same look every time a new stray shows up. I think I've only ever had one who didn't learn he could trust me.

Balboa came around pretty quickly. He's at the point now where he jumps up into my lap and purrs while making bread. He's got extra toes, so it's extra OW! Quit it!

Of course, this guy used to have a home, he was dumped and incredibly stressed and disoriented when he found me.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

I was standing against the door frame, behind the glass, like I was one of the cops on Law and Order, so I think he could only partially see me. If I'd moved fully in front of the door, he'd have been off like a shot, canned food or no. Although, when he is out, and I also happen to be out, he's not running *quite* as quickly as he did in the beginning, so maybe he is finally figuring out that I am indeed good people.

I have no idea whether he was ever a pet. He looks incredibly scruffy, so if he was, he's been out a while. His right ear is either broken or mostly gone, and the left one has a chunk out of it. His tail looks like it's broken as well (which is a total shame, because he has that huge Maine Coon feather tail.) Maybe one of these days I can actually brush him. Wouldn't that be awesome!!

[warriorsavant.livejournal.com]

Good pix!

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Danke! I was thrilled with them. A couple of very elusive subjects.

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

Aw! He is a cutie, if a bit disheveled. Your indoor cats must LOVE you for putting that bird feeder so close to the window. I am pretty sure mine would do nothing else except sit and stare at it all day every day. :)

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "a bit disheveled" is a good way of putting it. ;-) He is obviously a figher, not a lover. One ear is either broken or missing, and the other has been completely de-tipped. He would have a gorgeous floofy tail if I could ever brush it. I'm pretty sure he's at least part Maine Coon, judging by his tail, size, and markings, but he's kind of a mess right now. There is a feral cat clinic here, where they will live trap, spay or neuter, then release. I'm giving serious consideration to doing that for him. Maybe that would at least stop him from fighting, and also prevent some extra litters in the area.

I hope they love me for the bird feeders! There's the one right against the window, then there are two others about ten feet away that are always hopping. They spend some time on their big new condo, but more often than not, they just nap on the couch, completely oblivious that there are 300 birds outside the window. They're old. They just don't much care anymore! :-)

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

The feral cat clinic sounds like a great idea!

You really have some great wildlife at your new place. :)

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

You should see the chipmonkey family that lives in the ditch next to my house. I love watching them run back and forth. One scared me to death the other day though. I was trimming my rose bush and it went running across my foot. I almost fell off the porch. Oy!

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

Wow! Close encounters! That raccoon on your porch, too.... You really have such a great setup there.

[logical-choice.livejournal.com]

I just luv all the excitement around your house!

I noticed the tip of the ears is clipped. That's a good thing! It's common practice to clip the ear on feral cats when the are spayed so if captured they aren't 'spayed again.'

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh...you know, you might be right? I thought this was a boy cat who had had his ears ripped in a fight, but maybe it's a girl that has been spayed then released? Holy crap. I was going to try to live trap *him* to take to the feral cat clinic, but maybe it's already been done?


THank you!!

[logical-choice.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome!
Some areas clip males and females. We only clip the females because if its a male thats recaptured it's 'obvious' he's been neutered.

I would guess this one has already been altered. That looks to 'neat' to be from a fight.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

After reading your comment, I did some research, and it would appear you're right. This kitty is apparently part Maine Coon, or at least some long-haired variety of cat. It has a tail as big around as my arm. So I couldn't even tell if it WAS a male or not. Maybe that's the reason for the eartip.

Judging from the battle scars, I was just assuming male, but who knows. Wow, thank you so much. I feel a lot better now, at least knowing it won't be getting pregnant (or impregnating any other kitties.)

[uworld003.livejournal.com]

I am such a kid...I still giggle at titmouse...
LOL @ Wild Kingdom, i used to watch it as a kid.

[bogartbabe78.livejournal.com]

ohh such a cute kitty:) Love the bird picture... I laugh, cause I use to think birdwatching were for dorks and had to be the most boring thing on earth. Guess what I enjoy doing now..............Barry and I love to go walking around and try to find birds, we found the sweetest lil birds the other day, not bigger than my thumb and they just learned how to fly (and weren't scare of humans too much..yet!). I am wanting to goto GA to find a painted bunting or go soemwhere to find a indigo breasted roller. Knowing me, I like the colorful birds the best;) But love the little ones too..birds are just cool:) That is an awesome pic!