bluesilverkdg: (Default)
bluesilverkdg ([personal profile] bluesilverkdg) wrote2011-07-16 06:49 pm
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Got him!

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.

Photobucket

(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.

Photobucket

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.

[identity profile] lindapendant.livejournal.com 2011-07-17 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com 2011-07-17 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)
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!!