Favourite Words

[AndyM]

But Des, does the cat thing ever conflict with the bird thing ??

[Des]

But Des, does the cat thing ever conflict with the bird thing ??

'Fraid so, Andy. Bit of a moral dilemma, with cats impacting significantly on some bird populations, but surprising numbers of birders have cats.

[AndyM]

So would you step in if a favoured cat was menacing a rare bird ?? What are the parameters of intervention ? Or, if we think about things like birds of prey, if the cat was under threat. (We nearly had a buzzard fly into the windscreen of our hired car once, they're big sods, aren't they ?)

[Con Murphy]

As one who is neither a birder nor a cat person, morally I would side with a rare bird over a (or someone else's, ie my wife's) favoured cat simply because the cat's existence/domesticity is entirely our responsibility. The bird of prey scenario is a difficult one - my reaction would depend entirely on whether my wife was present ("no darling, haven't seen it since last night"). So I guess today's favoured word is 'expediency'.

[AndyM]

Or 'divorce' ??

[Des]

Predation of birds by cats is most damaging where a bird population is already struggling to find food or nesting sites i.e. experiencing environmental stress. In urban areas this is often not the case, as many birds have artificially high populations due to easy availability of food and nesting sites, warmer micro-climate etc, so domestic cats enjoy a conveyor belt of wild birds as food without necessarily impacting on overall bird populations. It is with this in mind that I justify my ownership of said feline.

[Dayna]

You can try your best to keep your cat from killing birds, but for them, killing birds is as natural as lions in Africa killing zebras.

[NormanD]

You can try your best to keep your cat from killing birds, but for them, killing birds is as natural as lions in Africa killing zebras.

Yeh, but I bet they don't being them in through the lion flap and leave them for you at the bottom of the bed.

[Des]

There was a half-dead wildebeest in the kitchen this morning.

[Ted]

There was a half-dead wildebeest in the kitchen this morning.

I hope you made it coffee before it left.

[judith]

I hope so too. It is now believed wildebeests have 'swarm intelligence'.

new favorite word -
stigmergy

[kas]

I hope so too. It is now believed wildebeests have 'swarm intelligence'.

Just make sure that your home doesn't get a reputation as a "friendly place for a cup of java and a chatter" among the wildebeests. There may be a whole swarm of them on your doostep one morning.

[NormanD]

And let us not forget the LEGENDARY Mr Theophilus P. Wildebeeste, the wild beast who 'sheds hair all over your carpet'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJGfERRRf6M

[Con Murphy]

I hope so too. It is now believed wildebeests have 'swarm intelligence'.

Just make sure that your home doesn't get a reputation as a "friendly place for a cup of java and a chatter" among the wildebeests. There may be a whole swarm of them on your doostep one morning.

And never listen to Charlie Dimmock - I followed her advice to build a water feature that would attract more wildlife to my garden and the next thing I knew a herd of impala was wandering around the fish pond and the local news reported that a hippopotamus was causing congestion on the A339.

[Dayna]

We're getting all kinds of strange news stories of wild animals. There was one where a deer got inside a public swimming pool and jumped in while there were people swimming.



Have you ever heard a catbird before? There's been one chirping outside my window in the evenings.