For the Birds

What I'm reading:
Lake Monster Mysteries by Joe Nickell and Benjamin Radford
The Shelters of Stone by Jean Auel

What I'm knitting:
Mead Scarf
Ballband Dishcloth

For the few months, a cat has been sitting in my yard and scaring away the birds.  That's all he does: sit.  He killed a mockingbird back in November, so maybe he's hoping for a repeat.  I used to have about 30 different species of birds at my feeders, and these are some of my favorites:

Oriole

(One of the few birds that observes me through the window without seeming fearful.)

 Tufted Titmouse

(Quiet and shy.  They take one seed at a time and fly away.)

Grey Catbird

(Its call sounds like a cat, but my own cat is apparently not fooled.)

Boat-tailed Grackle

(Love peanuts.)

Cardinal / Redbird

(My favorite.  The same one used to sing at my window every morning.  He and his mate gobbled up black-oil sunflower seeds like they were going out of style.)

There were also chickadees, wrens, sparrows, bluejays, thrushes, and mourning doves.

Now, a few squirrels and the two territorial mockingbirds trying to bully them away from the feeders are my only backyard visitors.  I wish they would join forces and chase off the cat; three squirrels and two mockingbirds combined are just fearsome enough to ensure the cat never comes back.