Well, the fly situation at home seems to be taken care of for the most part. Whereas a couple nights ago we killed off about three dozen, last night there were only three. WOO HOO!! It’s wonderful to know you can cook and bake without fear of flies. I don’t know how people did it in the “olden times” out on the frontier. I mean, flies, dust, grime, and all that – I so would not have been a good candidate for Frontier House.
In other news, twice in one week we have found injured birds in our backyard. It’s like reverse karma – we take care of the baby birds in our window and now suddenly the adults are dying left and right. Last week we found an injured bird in our backyard near the bird feeder. It was in pain despite having no visible wounds. I put on some gloves and picked it up – at first it totally panicked, but once I started speaking softly to it and gently petting it, the bird calmed down considerably. We attempted to make a nest in one of our unused bird’s nests, but every time I put the bird down he panicked and started fluttering about. We attempted to give him some seed to no avail – he had no energy to eat. We finally put some soft mulch in a shallow box and I went to put him back where I found him. He promptly panicked and then died. I presume a heartattack or something at being put back at the “place of the crime” (whatever that crime was).
This morning Denis saw a small bird resting on our porch rail, and then watched as it attempted to fly up to our roof to get away from Cooper, who we had let out for one last walkies before we left for work. The bird made it up to the gutter and “missed” – flying into the wall instead. The bird then fell into the corner off our deck, amongst the plants and shrubs. We brought Cooper inside and debated picking it up, but realized that we should probably leave the bird there if it’s injured. Let nature take it’s course.
We have no idea what is killing our birds, but that’s the fourth one. There have been a couple other dead birds in our backyard. I know there are neighborhood cats who roam free – I’ve seen them in our backyard occasionally at night. If these cats are killing the birds, they need to knock it off. Or I’ll sic Cooper on them and see how they like it.
Okay, now I know that is totally not going to happen because Cooper desperately LOVES all cats and would want to play with the neighborhood cats, but he’s bigger than them and will get in their face and poke at them with his snout. Which, according to our cat Ginger, is no fun.