Yellow Finch?

[Charlie B53]

I can't say that I am a 'Bird Watcher' as I don't even know the correct names of most of the birds in our area.  But I do have some appreciation for all the creatures around us.  While making my rare second cup of coffe a moment ago I noticed one of the many yellow dandelion flowers inside the fenced yard move.  WHAT?  Oh, it wasn't a dandelion flower, it is a small yellow bird poking around for food.  Then it was joined by another, and another, and............ Prety soon there were FIVE of them poking around.  I was surprised as we always see Reds, Blues, Robins, and of course all the small browns.  But Yellow?  I don't remember seeing yellows other than a little yellow in a few of the hummingbirds that will be coming a bit later after our Crown of Charon's (Sp?) start flowering.

Just thought I'd post this so others may also appreciate wildlife.

[Rerun]

Very nice.  My friend in Walla Walla is a birder.  She goes and counts for Audibon and goes "birding" .  Some of her pictures are amazing. 

[Michael Murphy]

My wife likes birds and more important my cats love birds.  Feed the birds and my cats spend hours in the windows watching the birds.  Up in the Adirondacks we have all sort wild life on   Our property I take great pleasure sitting on the porch eating breakfast and watching the deer herd that thinks it owns the house.
What's funny is when one of the bucks starts huffing at me.

[Charlie B53]

LOL  The deer here spook far too easily.  There are tracks all over every morning, right up next to the porches.  They LOVE my garden, eat enough I want to stick a head on a fence post and leave a steaming gut pile right in the middle of the garden.  They have learned to step on my 35 pound watermelons to break them open so they can get their mouths inside to eat them.  Some of them need to DIE!

I may resort to putting in a bunch of T-posts, fitting plastic pipe over them all so I can string rows of wire from a couple of inches off the ground to a bit over 7 feet. Then wire them all to one of the HOTTEST electric fencers made.  Hot enough to burn off the weeds that grow up to it.  That may keep most of them out of my garden. 

Previous neighbor used to .have a small apple orchard between our houses.  The deer would come in after dark and eat everything they could reach. You could watch them standing on their hind legs to reach the tender new growth.  I would let our dogs out into our fenced space behind our house and most all of the deer would spook and light out for the woods.  Except for the older Buck.  He knew the dogs couldn't get out of that fence.  He was perfectly safe eating on the apple trees.  They would all be back later during the year as the apples were 'shedding' and again closer to harvest.

There is a Red Fox, all the neighbors have seen her except me.  Hard to believe I haven't seen her yet.

[Michael Murphy]

To keep the deer out of my wife's garden we have 8 foot corner posts so I ran a wire fro corner post to corner post then my wife hung yarn or tinsel every couple ofeet the deer leave it alone.  But my favorite story is the moron up the hill tha bought a million dollar hous had it upgraded the pu 300',000 dollars in landscaping right next to the house is a 2000 acre county park with a large deer herd.  The deer thought it was a mighty fine buffet, 300,000 in plantings gone in a week.

[Charlie B53]

Couple years ago the young G'son wanted to plant flowers in the front beds.  So we picked out a couple packs of seeds and scratched them into the soil.  Of course he wanted Marigolds in the mix.  Turned out O.K. all Summer and Fall.  Primarily marigolds and some other very tall thing supposedly native to Missouri.  So well I had Wife go out there with a couple of the huge zip lock bags and pick off all the seed pods.  We have well over a gallon of marigold pods each full of seeds.  And almost a gallon of whatever that other kind is.  Deer supposedly do not like the smell or taste of marigolds, or so I am told.  I have been thinking about planting about a two foot wide boarder wall of my own to see if that will help keep them out.

Nah, they would just walk right over it.  I'm better off with the electric fence.

[Michael Murphy]

Up north I have seen electrified horse fences used. The other flower deers hate is daffodils.

[Riki]

We don't have deer here, just foxes and skunks... the foxes aren't afraid of people at all.. they're almost tame.. my brother was working on his car one evening, and in the dark of the setting sun, he felt something rubbing up against his legs... he though it was a cat till he looked down and saw a small fox... he gave it a kick and yelled at it, trying to give it fear of humans... doubt it worked, though..

[Charlie B53]

I'd love to adopt a baby fox!  They are smart, easily trained, and make a great pet.

[Michael Murphy]

And unlike things like baby tigers baby fox dot grow up and eat you.

[Charlie B53]

Generally, if you can get a baby within the first week, or less, and bottle feed it.  That animal will grow up believing your are it's Parent and develop a life-long bond.

Capuring an animal that is already off the breast, or nearly off the breast is too late, they have already identified with their natural parent.

[Riki]

The foxes here will come up to us for food anyway.  They're not afraid of us.  Last year, one was napping in the sun in the backyard of the building next door while Mom was working on our barbecue.  They eat the bread we put out for the birds too, and we do that for the cat's entertainment.  She won't go outside, so the birds are in no danger, but she likes to watch from the window

[Michael Murphy]

Some Moron in New York City bought a baby tiger, when it was small cute and cuddly he keep it in his apartment.  Just before NYC police and animal contro removed the tiger he was so scared he would open the door and throw food in slam the door and run.

[Charlie B53]

A Tiger is a pretty BIG Kitty! I'm sure we've all seen the videos of the big Cats that were raised from infantcy and later donate to a preserve, how even years later the previous 'Parent' came to visit the Bigt Cat and how loving the meeting was.  Granted these are the RARE animals that were raised from very early infantcy.

I myself would maybe prefer a Bobcat.  As like big Dogs, the bigger the Pet the bigger the food, and the bigger the food the bigger the POOP.  And somebody has gotta clean up that mess.

No, Thank You.

As a kid we had a Pink.  That's short for the name I cannot spell right.  Little Dog, long hair, pushed in nose sorta like he might have ran into a parked car.  Anyway, Pinks naturally bury thrier poop like a cat.  Might not be such a great idea if you have prize winning flower beds.

[PrimeTimer]

If you are seeing yellow finches it could be that you are in their migratory path and they are heading north for the summer. This is the time of year where you might see all kinds of birds that you otherwise don't see. If you get a bird book, you'll be surprised at how many different species pass thru.

Got a good laugh last nite....heard a little noise outside our patio. Stepped out just in time to see a raccoon sondering down the walkway. Right about then a couple of guys came out of their apartment, each holding a beer and clearly drunk. They saw the raccoon and freaked out. One said "DANG! Look at that big efin cat! S*it! He's BIG one!!" I was going to shout over to them that it was a raccoon but nah, I had too much fun seeing them freak out over thinking it was a cat.   

[Riki]

They would have loved the cat I used to have.... he was a good 20lbs... or more.. and he was big.. nothing I could do would help him lose weight... especially after I found out that the neighbors were feeding him steak and potatoes..... he was red and white, so he definitely wouldn't have been mistaken for a raccoon... *L*

[PrimeTimer]

I rescued a feral kitten from a family of possums. She kept following them but they'd stop and look back at her as if to say she didn't belong. I finally took her in. Took 3 months to tame her before I could make her a housecat. Turned out to be a Maine Coone -they are a jumbo breed of cat. Built sort of like a tanker truck. She weighed 9 pounds before she was six months old. She's the full length of my arm. But she's a pretty princess, a diva and very spoiled. My baby girl! She loves to be brushed and to have her butt scratched every morning. Diva Princess! Gets anything she wants. She's dark gray and black, could definitely pose as a raccoon. She's got a tail the length of a feather boa. Such the diva!

[Michael Murphy]

Maine coons are big enough to take what they want but cute enough to be given what ever they want.  A very wonderful combination.  Sounds like it's a mutual love story.