Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 22, 2013

Must be the cats’ version of “the boogey man” (or snake). Everyone likes a good scare once in awhile.

Arlo, it’s cry for help! You idiot! There are snakes the loose!….Your cat is frightened…How insensitive, …If I were Luddy I’d move in with Gene….

Predators, Varnes. Cats are natural predators.

Yeah, watched five Cooper’s Hawks circling overhead yesterday over my backyard. They were watching three feral cats that live in the neighborhood. Originally, there were seven cats now we are down to three. The hawks are taking their toll(or dinner).

I once had a hawk swoop down and grab my cat right in front of my eyes. It was horrible – like watching a crucifixion.

Most popular stories around the campfire are all about killer bears and deranged hook-handed axe murderers, right? What was that noise?!?!

My daughter won’t let just one chicken out (we have one that lives in a cage indoors because she was not raised with the others) because of the hawks. The chickens are all let out, or none. Safety in numbers.

The indoor chicken has a cage-mate, Bob, who has a neurological disorder and would be killed by the other chickens if not watched constantly.

Lot’s of hawks here in the northeast now, freakin big ones too. 30 years ago, there were practically none and we’d have 20 pigeons in the yard at the feeders. Now, three pigeons. Saw one get taken one day. It’s blindingly fast, a streak of light, a swoosh sound in the air, whammo, feathers fly everywhere, before you even realize what is going on, and flap, flap, flap, up, up, and away…..life’s a bitch sometimes.Once saw a hawk in the mountains hiking along a cliff edge, there were dozens of them. This one guy comes by 30 ft out beyond the cliff, flips himself over up side down! I swear. Looks right at me, give a big cry, and continues to glide by just having a blast gliding around on the air currents. Looked like he was saying to me, “how do you like this bud?” It was cool chit.

I was wondering when they would re-appear….

Saw a Peregrine hit a flock of pigeons. Awesome. Small dot high above the flock….got bigger real quick then…Blam….feathers and one less pigeon.

@Twypsi: Cooper’s hunt individually, are you sure you weren’t seeing turkey vultures? I have a Cooper’s hawk that occasionally flies to the other side of the window and people watches for awhile. Beautiful, big bird, I am in awe. And he’s smart enough to have instantly figured out that if I point, there’s a finch that hit the window over there that he needs to go get.

Snakequake. Even though the chair tipped over, they WILL rebuild.

There was a racket on the back patio one night and I went out and found a barely fledged red tailed hawk cornered under the patio table by my two cats, who were keeping their distance. He was making himself as BIG as possible, leaning back on his tail and spreading his wings and cussing like mad. I put on a pair of welder’s gloves and gently picked him up. He made no effort to bite. I took him out front away from the cats because I wasn’t sure how well he could fly. He sat on the side of my hand a while, then flew off to a neighboring tree. Quite an experience.

yes but then we might miss out on so many amazing iPhone, snake, and cat stories. i thought one reason they bought the boat was to be close the kid and his family. apparently too much fun staying home.

Poor Ludwig. He’s going to have nightmares.