Ada, beautiful bloom, love the two-toned effect. And i agree lots of my seedling brugs are loaded with buds now that frost is imminent. Of the about 50 seedlings I only had one that on the pink side and very light. Most that bloomed were ivory, white or light yellow.
That is my thought too, lots of bird houses and feeder. I feed all year round, but only once in the early morning, the rest of the time they have to hunt bugs. I do have a lot of berried shrubs that the birds really enjoy. Donna
Susie Aurea X ?
Love it Ada, the color and shape are great. Does it look up, out or down? I really want one of the smaller ones that look up/out.
Beautiful Brug! I love the two-toned effect and the star. (and the color, and the shape,) I love it!
Bonnie
Scoot and Donna, do you have trouble with your kitty cats killing the birds??? I have a Martin house, but we must be too buggy for one house...
Thanks, Donna, IHughes and LadyBlue.
Sherry ,
When I do see a cat with a bird , which is not very often , the birds look like they were long dead from injury or disease.
I do not think a cat can catch a healthy bird . I have watched them stalk their 'prey' , really funny .
They perform their duties assigned by Mother Nature by weeding out the weak and sickly ,
thereby keeping the flocks healthy ,strong and safe.
Scoot, you need to meet Potter, the most personable cat we've had. Potter spends most of the day riding the gate into the barn entry, back and forth, balancing every ride and hisses & slaps your back when the gate bounces shut. When he's not doing that, or beating up on his only child, Crookshank, he's hunting birds and mice, and unfortunately, he not only kills healthy birds, he kills baby birds. He was tattered, and skinny, a wild, stray and mean when he showed up but once we tamed/neutered him, we never see him hunt birds anymore, because he's either riding the gate, or under my feet, but my nephew saw him stalk and catch a mouse recently and John sats Potter's hunting instinct is still strong...
Oh Scooter!!! One of the many cats we had at my parents house could, and DID catch healthy birds! This one in particular, who I named Little Black Kitty was the tiniest little skinny cat and she was the best hunter. Mainly mockingbirds, which do swoop down and antagonize cats making it a little easier. She hurt her leg and had to have surgery. Then her back leg would just sort of stick out- wouldn't bend into the joint and "tuck under" anymore. So she laid out there under the willow tree on her back with that leg thrown out to the side, which instigated a bombardment of mocking birds swooping down and "goosing" her since they thought she was a lame duck so to speak. She would wait.... then like a flash she jumped up and caught them mid-air. I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. Another time I opened the back door and she came in with a dove, still alive and bigger than she was! Well I screamed and freaked her out so she let it go and it flew up on top of our entertainment center. My poor dad had to get it down and put it back outside. There wasn't a mark on that bird and it did fly off so it's not like she just dragged in an already injured bird that was powerless to get away. So, yes, cats can catch healthy birds. :) Jamie
Hmmm, Maybe it is just in this area that cats are content not to kill birds.
Schrews, moles ,field mice , bugz, frogs , lizards and baby rats are all on the menu tho. That menu combined with the fact that they always have free-choice quality kibble in the barn 24-7 may also make birds less appealing. My vets and I have discussed this behavior and they seem to think it not unusual.
Go Figure ('-'?)
My cat can't get outside to get the birds, but I can tell she would like to. Instead she has to be content just catching an occasional fly or Asian lady beetle. She is great at it. Now, I wonder how she will be with white flies?
Shirley, if she does good with white flies, I'd like to borrow her. LOL
Well, I have had probably a hundred cats over my lifetime since we always lived kind of out in the country. Of all those cats, LBK was the only one I ever saw leap several feet into the air and CATCH a flying bird! The three I have now are the only one's I have had an adult and I have chosen to keep them as indoor only cats. I have no doubt Miss Mouse would be a great hunter, but my boys are kind of like Garfield- fat, lazy and prefer people food. :) Also, like I said, other than the dove it was only mockingbirds that I saw her catch and that is because they swoop down to torment her.
BTW- many people get barn cats as mousers and don't feed them cat food thinking it will make them be better hunters (hunting for food). But that isn't really true. A well fed, healty cat is much more likely to be a good mouser... or "birder" if you will. Ha!