Wildlife

Cat update for week ending January 30

The last Caturday for January… or is it March 335, 2020? What is time?

We start as we often do, with cute Porcini and Poppy snuggles in their cat house:

Snuggles

Poppy and Porcini on their deck:

Poppy and Porcini

Spud, Poppy, and Pommie at the cabins:

Spud, Poppy, Pommie

Poppy has been spending a lot of time in the cabins; here she’s in the left one, with Spud behind her, and Porcini in the right one:

Poppy (Spud behind), Porcini

Poppy returning to the cabins, with Spud and Porcini still there:

Poppy, Spud, Porcini

Spud sleeping on top of the ever-patient Poppy, and Porcini still in the other cabin:

Spud, Poppy, Porcini

Pepper watching me in the shop, while I was working on the duck island project:

Pepper in the shop

Pepper in the shop

Cat

Cat

It snowed a bit on Sunday night; here’s Porcini with a bit of snow on the cat house awning (the ground in front is fairly sheltered by trees):

Snow and Porcini

Porcini, Poppy, and Pommie at the cabins again:

Porcini, Poppy, Pommie

Spud arrived too:

Spud, Poppy, Porcini, Pommie

A glimpse of Poppy and Porcini in the cabins while I walk up the path to the bird box (visible on the left). This picture is useful for context, too — our main deck and gazebo is above the cat cabins, with the bird feeders off to the right:

Poppy and Porcini

Porcini leaving:

Porcini leaving

Poppy thought about leaving as I got closer:

Poppy

But returned to the cabin and watched me cautiously while I refilled the bird feeders:

Poppy

As a feral cat, she’s cautious of all humans, but I think she recognizes me as not a threat.

Another busy day at the cabins, with Spud & Poppy in the left one, Pommie between them, and Porcini in the right one:

Four cats

That evening, a little more snow, and two cats:

Snow and cats

Pansy trying out a different chair in the back of the shop:

Pansy in the shop

Spud starting to throw up:

Spud yawp

A possum was happy to clean up the mess (time-lapse GIF), supervised by Pommie:

Possum and cat GIF

Spud was fine, he just ate a mouse or something that didn’t sit well. Here he is in the breezeway this morning:

Spud in the breezeway

Cat update for week ending January 16

It’s Caturday. And birdyday, apparently.

Three cats, including Paladout:

Three cats

Poppy:

Poppy

A cam app screenshot with five cats; two in cabins, three in their house:

Five cats

I flushed Poppy out of her house again while refilling their food dispenser:

Poppy

Four cats, with three eating the bonus food I tossed on the ground for them:

Four cats

Pansy in the back of the shop:

Pansy in the back of the shop

Porcini enjoying a bath in a sunbeam:

Porcini enjoying a sunbeam bath

Porcini and Poppy:

Porcini and Poppy

A GIF of Bella on the deck, Porcini climbing a tree, and another cat running up, startling Bella:

Three cats

Spud stretching in the breezeway:

Spud

Porcini rolling around on the awning, Poppy drinking:

Porcini and Poppy

Porcini and Poppy snuggling:

Porcini and Poppy

Porcini and Poppy

Porcini and Poppy

A GIF of Porcini snuggling and rolling:

Porcini and Poppy

Paladout on a foggy morning:

Paladout

Spud in front of the cabins:

Spud

A Steller’s Jay grabbing cat food; such a pretty bird:

Steller's Jay

Steller's Jay

Cat update for week ending January 9

A pleasant Caturday to you.

The twins by the cabins:

Two cats by cabins

A zoomed photo of the cat house, with three cats visible — one on the awning, one inside the house, and a third on the deck. Quite likely one in the feeder too:

Cat house with 3 cats

A screenshot of my cams app, showing five cats — one in the feeder, one in a cabin, and three in the house:

5 cats

A time-lapse GIF of a raccoon encounter — a raccoon approached the cabins when Pommie was in there, then went behind them. She retreated, and the raccoon came between the cabins:

Raccoon and cat

Raccoon and cat:

Raccoon and cat

Porcini scratching while looking in the direction of the camera:

Porcini scratching

Porcini by the heated water dish:

Porcini

Poppy under our main deck while I refilled the bird feeders:

Poppy

Two cats in the evening:

Two cats

Spud and Pommie starting to retreat when I’m approaching to refill the bird feeders:

Spud and Pommie when I'm approaching

Pommie wonders if the coast is clear after I’ve gone:

Pommie

Four cats:

Four cats

A GIF of Porcini licking and snuggling with her mother, Poppy:

Snuggles

Porcini and Poppy snuggles:

Porcini and Poppy snuggles

Spud in the breezeway:

Spud in the breezeway

Spud in the kitchen garden, watching me:

Spud in the kitchen garden

A GIF of Porcini scratching the tree by the cat house, while another eats, and a third approaches in the background:

Scratching tree

Four cats (one barely visible in the feeder):

4 cats

Three cats enjoying the heating pads on a sub-freezing morning today:

Three cats

Poppy and Bella on a frosty morning today:

Poppy and Bella

Cat update for week ending January 2

Welcome to the first Caturday of 2021! Mostly with pictures from 2020, of course.

Here’s Bella about to jump onto the camera housing:

Bella about to jump onto camera housing

Bella about to jump onto camera housing

Spud and Porcini in the cabins; unusual for her to be there:

Spud and Porcini

Porcini and Poppy:

Porcini and Poppy

Spud:

Spud

Porcini:

Porcini

Wide eyes:

Wide eyes

Oh hi:

Oh hi

Porcini looking out the back door:

Porcini looking out the back door

Mirrored cabin cats:

Cabin cats

Porcini and Poppy snuggling:

Porcini and Poppy

Porcini and Poppy

Three cats:

Three cats

GIF of a possum approaching the cabins, being startled by Pommie, and retreating:

GIF of possum and cat

Three cats inside their house:

Three cats

Cabin cats (the twins, Spud and Pommie) looking concerned by heavy rain:

Cabin cats

Comfy cabin cats:

Cabin cats

Super-relaxed Porcini:

Porcini

Cat update for week ending December 26

It’s Caturday!

A rare picture of Bella; she doesn’t hang around as much as the others:

Bella

A Steller’s Jay stealing some cat food spilled in the water dish:

Steller's Jay with food from water dish

Paladout, watched from the cat house:

Paladout

GIF of Porcini going out the back door:

GIF of cat going out back door

Poppy and Porcini:

Poppy and Porcini

Three cats:

Three cats

Porcini watching me from the window:

Cat in the window

Spud trying to sneak up on Porcini; she sensed his approach:

Spud and Porcini

Three cats:

Three cats

Can you see Porcini and Poppy? Watching me when I went to the cat house to refill their food:

Two cats

Here’s a closer look:

Two cats

Another day, I flushed them out again; Porcini on the rock, Poppy next to the tree:

Two cats

Poppy watching me:

Poppy

Cat update for week ending December 19

It’s that most Caturdayish day of the week.

Plus some wildlife: a possum visited the cat feeder while there were a couple of cats inside the house:

Possum and cats

On that occasion the possum left without bothering the cats, but the following night it went inside the cat house; here’s a sped-up GIF:

GIF with possum

The cats aren’t too concerned about possums; they’re about the same size, and generally leave each other alone.

The following night, another possum encounter at the cabins (another GIF); the possum came face-to-face with Pommie, but backed off immediately:

GIF with possum

Porcini looking happy:

Porcini

A cat looking out a window of the cat house, with another on the deck and a third eating:

Cat looking out windoe

There was one downstairs, too; here you can see four cats:

Cat looking out window

Poppy and Porcini snuggles:

Cat snuggles

Pansy eating from her feeder in the back of the shop:

Pansy in the shop

Poppa spent the day in the cat house, along with Porcini and Poppy:

Poppa

Poppa

Cabin twins, Spud and Pommie:

Cabin twins

Six cats, including Poppa and Paladout:

6 cats

Spud in the breezeway:

Spud in the breezeway

A GIF of a Steller’s jay and a scrub jay rooting through the leaves in front of the cat house:

GIF of birds

A still picture of them:

Birds

Flying away:

Birds

Finally, a screenshot of five cats:

5 cats

Flock Friday for November 20

Hey there. It’s Friday… Flock Friday. This week, ducks, chickens, and hummingbirds… and a rodent.

Here are some ducks on upturned-pot islands in the pond:

Ducks

In and around the duck house:

Ducks

On the pond:

Ducks

Hey there Betty:

Ducks

A rodent (rat, I think) has been visiting the duck house this week. Not welcome, due to possible disease concerns, though it doesn’t seem to be doing any harm, and I don’t know what I can do to stop it — it comes in via the pond pop door, and during the day too. Here you can see it under the ramp, with the ducks nearby:

Rodent and ducks

The ducks were very curious about it:

Rodent and ducks

Some pictures of the chickens in the veggie garden:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

In their run, coming to greet me on rounds:

Chickens

Leafy treats:

Chickens

More of the ducks:

Ducks

Going up the bank to the lawn:

Ducks

On the lawn:

Ducks

Ducks

A GIF of the rodent in the duck house:

Rodent GIF

I shared this GIF of dancing hummingbirds on my personal blog:

Hummingbirds GIF

And some pictures of hummingbirds, taken with me standing outside a few feet away:

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds

The ducks on the lawn again:

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Some chicken eggs in a nesting box; we’ve been averaging about two or three per day of late, but occasionally have more:

Eggs

Finally, a couple more duck pictures:

Ducks

Ducks

Cat update for week ending November 7

Happy Caturday folks.

In case you didn’t see it, last weekend I added an upper door to the cat house, as an emergency exit. Check out that post for details.

Here’s Porcini by the new back door:

Porcini by new back door

Two cats inside the house; the new door gives them another window to look out:

Two cats

A cat peeking around the corner of the house while I was refilling their food; very brave approaching that close:

Cat peeking around the corner

Two cats hunting for food I sprinkled on the ground as a treat (it’s a fun game):

Two cats

Looking out the back door:

Looking out the back door

A GIF of jumping out the new door:

GIF of jumping out the back door

Cats looking out both back doors:

Looking out both back doors

Another GIF of jumping out, watched from below:

GIF of jumping out the back door

After a couple of days for them to get used to the concept of the new door, I removed the stick that was holding it open:

Removing stick holding door open

Snuggles:

Snuggles

Poppy-face:

Two cats

Poppy and Porcini outside:

Two cats

Porcini about to jump from the awning to the roof:

Two cats

More snuggles:

Snuggles

Long cat and round cat:

Long cat and round cat

Porcini licking Poppy:

GIF of licking cats

The reason I added that upper back door was as an emergency exit in case a raccoon came in when a cat was inside. Well, that happened this week, though ironically the raccoon headed straight for the upper level, so the cat was able to go out the front:

GIF of raccoon inside

A shot of the cat and raccoon:

Cat and raccoon

That didn’t put off the cats, though. Here are three inside a few hours later:

Three cats

Spud was in the left cabin, and Poppa arrived; Spud greeted him in the traditional way:

Spud and Poppa

Then Poppa settled down in the right cabin:

Spud and Poppa

Here they are again as it got brighter:

Spud and Poppa

They were both still there when I did my morning rounds:

Spud and Poppa

They didn’t even notice me standing nearby at first:

Spud and Poppa

Moments later they evacuated, then came back after I was gone, and stayed most of the day.

A GIF of contented stretching and touching:

GIF of cat stretch

Snuggles:

Snuggles

More snuggles:

Snuggles