This guest blog Entry was written by: Daniel Theisen
When I moved from Cleveland, to a shack near the woods, I had two cats. One was but a kitten Val and I found on the side of the road during our move. The other was "Pooch" an older wiser predator of pigeons. Pigeons were abundant in my yard, with most nesting at Saint Luke's Hospital, two blocks away. The place where I worked as an electrician for 9 years.
Pooch was a lazy hunter, he'd hide in the bushes and imitate the sounds of a male pigeon wanting to mate. The unsuspecting females would go in close to check that sound out. Except for a shiver from his hind legs Pooch stayed frozen and still, cooing to the pigeons until they were within striking range. His charge and pounce was sloppy and he mostly missed. When he did get one, he wasted none of it. Just another predator feeding on an over abundant flock.
Pooch was shocked that our woodland home had very few pigeons and his cooing talent was useless. The morning doves thought it was lame, and all the other birds knew where he was by his sounds. Pooch went back to school, shut up and just started watching. He learned how to silently and slowly move within range of his pounce. He soon became prolific hunters. He quit eating his cat food and no longer ate all the bird when making a kill. He would crack their chest and just eat the heart, as if he was a" Dexter" cat.
I put a bell collar on him to reduce his murder rate, but he just became a smoother hunter and would run up and kill birds without ringing his bells.
While I contemplated my next move, to rein him in, he was bitten by a rattle snake. He was beyond the beyonds when I found him, and finished him off to end his misery.
The birds cheered .
When I moved from Cleveland, to a shack near the woods, I had two cats. One was but a kitten Val and I found on the side of the road during our move. The other was "Pooch" an older wiser predator of pigeons. Pigeons were abundant in my yard, with most nesting at Saint Luke's Hospital, two blocks away. The place where I worked as an electrician for 9 years.
Pooch was a lazy hunter, he'd hide in the bushes and imitate the sounds of a male pigeon wanting to mate. The unsuspecting females would go in close to check that sound out. Except for a shiver from his hind legs Pooch stayed frozen and still, cooing to the pigeons until they were within striking range. His charge and pounce was sloppy and he mostly missed. When he did get one, he wasted none of it. Just another predator feeding on an over abundant flock.
Pooch was shocked that our woodland home had very few pigeons and his cooing talent was useless. The morning doves thought it was lame, and all the other birds knew where he was by his sounds. Pooch went back to school, shut up and just started watching. He learned how to silently and slowly move within range of his pounce. He soon became prolific hunters. He quit eating his cat food and no longer ate all the bird when making a kill. He would crack their chest and just eat the heart, as if he was a" Dexter" cat.
I put a bell collar on him to reduce his murder rate, but he just became a smoother hunter and would run up and kill birds without ringing his bells.
While I contemplated my next move, to rein him in, he was bitten by a rattle snake. He was beyond the beyonds when I found him, and finished him off to end his misery.
The birds cheered .