How did they tease your cat 'mercilessly',?At our old house we had a couple of ravens would visit us regularly, we'd feed them strips of bacon and liver. They'd call from outside when they arrived so we'd know they were there. Anyway we moved house at the end of June and I was a little sad at leaving our ravens but you know, life goes on and off we went.
Two week later I'm at our new place, its Saturday morning, got the doors and windows open because of the heat, when I hear a familiar cawing noise. I go to the door and there they are, sat on the wall!!
I know they're very intelligent but I'm still pretty amazed that they found us, we've moved about 8 miles from where we were.
One more thing, they used to tease our cat mercilessly but the other day ours was being picked as she's the new kid on the block, the ravens weren't having another cat picking on her, she's their cat after all and they swiftly saw the bully off.
Magpies dive bomb one of my cats when she's out on the roof. She gets so frustrated and they seem to be having a brilliant time.
How did they tease your cat 'mercilessly',?
Some years ago, our cat used to be teased frequently by jackdaws.
I thought, until right now, it a unique occurrence.
When our cat was, typically, having a nap on top of the garden wall, some jackdaws would line up on the end of the wall - seriously - and one by one would hover over our dozing cat. Naturally, cat wasn't having any of this and would leap up trying to get one of them.
However... they always kept a height *just slightly* out of reach.
This happened so often - the kids found it just hysterical - it became evident it was orchestrated and they were simply taking the...
I have always thought of this as unprecedented and a one-off.
Could you possibly please tell us more about your experience?
That Mistle Thrush nest mate, likewise..Years ago the cat I had then wiped out a nest of Mistle Thrush chicks (bastard), throughout the whole summer whenever the adult birds saw him they would divebomb him.
The cat that lives with me now, (technically not actually my cat), has a very uneasy truce with the local Magpies.They don't make any fuss when they see her but they do if they see foxes or another cat in the garden. Do they "understand" it's her territory?, would'nt put it past them.Interesting watching them near a fox,they will approach to within two feet behind a fox but more than three feet at the toothy end.There's often a racket going on at the bottom of the garden, it's often the Magpies and Jays having a go at each other.Have seen Crows and Magpies doing the "tree dance" as Mikefule described above, but often with another crow higher up the tree and trying to hide from the magpie while it waits for the one near the magpie to flush it away from the tree so it can swoop on it.Got to love the crow family,they really do hate each other.
Allow me to mention a recent thought I had - linked (although not entirely relevant.)
I was thinking about the cruelty of the often used (often at least in the UK) “Larson Trap Cages”
A cage in which a corvid/magpie is trapped, and the distress attracts a “like” bird, concerned enough to try and help. They then become trapped themselves - they then become the “new bait” for the next victim.
I thought of the cruelty and waste, of breeding out the empathetic and intelligent, leaving only the fearful and indifferent to remain and breed . . .
But that is farming isn’t it. All livestock is bred to be docile and unthinking - any animal showing intelligence or initiative is removed from the gene pool.
Sigh . . .
Allow me to mention a recent thought I had - linked (although not entirely relevant.)
I was thinking about the cruelty of the often used (often at least in the UK) “Larson Trap Cages”
A cage in which a corvid/magpie is trapped, and the distress attracts a “like” bird, concerned enough to try and help. They then become trapped themselves - they then become the “new bait” for the next victim.
I thought of the cruelty and waste, of breeding out the empathetic and intelligent, leaving only the fearful and indifferent to remain and breed . . .
But that is farming isn’t it. All livestock is bred to be docile and unthinking - any animal showing intelligence or initiative is removed from the gene pool.
Sigh . . .
I was thinking about the cruelty of the often used (often at least in the UK) “Larson Trap Cages”
A cage in which a corvid/magpie is trapped, and the distress attracts a “like” bird, concerned enough to try and help. They then become trapped themselves - they then become the “new bait” for the next victim.
I thought of the cruelty and waste...
Some years ago, our cat used to be teased frequently by jackdaws.
I thought, until right now, it a unique occurrence.
When our cat was, typically, having a nap on top of the garden wall, some jackdaws would line up on the end of the wall - seriously - and one by one would hover over our dozing cat. Naturally, cat wasn't having any of this and would leap up trying to get one of them.
However... they always kept a height *just slightly* out of reach.
This happened so often - the kids found it just hysterical - it became evident it was orchestrated and they were simply taking the...
I have always thought of this as unprecedented and a one-off.
It was about this time I was told the difference between a rook and a crow : " If you see more than one crow they are rooks, if there is only one rook its a crow".
Dunno about this - crows certainly roost together in numbers & you often see them feeding together in a field. A murder of crows..
Crows can be found together but a big flock tend to be rooks.
Why are there often those blue eyed jackdaws at ruined abbeys? Did someone introduce them to those places in the past? Or is it just a habitat they like? I've often wondered why we only seem to see them at certain old abbeys and castles..?