Feral Visitor

I had just opened the front door to get a bit of fresh country air when a large male feral cat came strolling by. He was doing what a cat does- stalking patiently, eyes ever so attentive to the ground in front of him hoping to find something to snack on. So I decided to sit back and watch. There are lots of pine voles in this area as evident by the many sandy mounds scattered over our 11.75 acres of property.


Three crows flying overhead spotted the feline and swooped down landing in a nearby oak tree, and then did what crows do best- mob. They began to squawk loudly diving upon the cat forcing him to take cover in our barn and stayed inside until the crows lost interest and flew away. He then began to slowly stalk the hayfield where it borders the forest.

Through my binoculars I watched as the big fellow would stop, sit and scan the area in front of him and then after several minutes move on. Eventually he ended up at the far end of the hayfield near my neighbor's house. By the way he began to tense up I knew he had spotted something. He then jumped into the air and came down hard, and as he turned his head I could tell he had something in his maw. He then slowly trotted towards the woods to eat its catch in privacy. I immediately grabbed my camera and ran towards the area where the cat had entered the thick brush hoping to get a glimpse of what it had captured. When I arrived I began looking for tracks, but was not successful since the ground where it had walked was covered with leaves and pine straw. I searched a while longer and then decided to go back and exam the scene of the crime hoping to find some type of "sign" that might indicate what it had captured.

It wasn't long before everything was explained. I found a fresh vole mound and not far from it was a large vole-sized hole. The rodent must've been peering from this hole when the cat spotted it and then pounced.

Who Done It???

While walking out to check the mail I noticed a red spot on the sidewalk. I walked over to find it was a drop of blood, and not the only drop. Looking ahead I could see a trail leading underneath our house. I followed each drop in the opposite direction until I came upon the source.

There in the grass near a ditch was a pile of feathers that had been carefully plucked from a white-winged dove. Apparently one of the feral cats that roam this neighborhood pounced upon the unwary bird and it became dinner. I walked back towards the house and noticed an outside cat of ours lying on a wicker couch that resides on our front porch. We “acquired” this big tom when we returned from our evacuation stint during hurricane Ike’s rampage on the Gulf Coast. We had no idea where he came from and decided to give him something to eat. After all he survived a hurricane. And everyone knows what happens when you feed a stray cat……..it never leaves. We couldn’t help it though because he was extremely tame and very friendly, so we decided to take him in. And his name...you guessed it...Ike.

Anyway, he looked awfully pleased as he lay stretched out on the couch making me wonder if he were responsible for the pile of feathers that lay ten yards away. I checked him over looking for blood, but as most people know cats are extremely adept at keeping themselves clean, so if he was the assassin he had already gotten rid of the evidence. The only indication he presented was one of contentment.

A Gecko Lives Another Day

On the ground before me is a snippet of a Mediterranean gecko. A part that served its purpose as a life-saving tool. No worries……it’ll grow back, and even though it may not resemble the original, the owner lives another day. When this 2 inch piece of tissue was released it wriggled incessantly to distract whatever the predator happened to be in order for the gecko to escape sure death. I came across a video on YouTube that shows a gecko tail in action:


Further investigation revealed the possible culprit. In the sand not a foot away from the tail was the track of one of the local carnivorous feral felines, which run rampant in this area. And believe me if one of them came upon a juicy little gecko it definitely would partake.