Window Watching

My squirrel buddy outside the window

One of my favorite things to do might seem odd for a cat who spent so much time living outside: I love to watch out the windows.  In Jordan’s room, I love to watch the birds in the park, the squirrels in the tree, and the neighbors mowing their grass.  In the living room, I love to watch the birds and the squirrels at my feeder.  It is definitely my favorite thing of all time!

Being a gardener, Jen knows a lot about plants and pest control.  She always says she doesn’t like to use pesticides and prefers natural ways to control pests.  One of those ways is simply attracting birds to the garden, which also provides entertainment for us cats.  She had a bird feeder when I came to live here and added two more to attract more birds.  She said it worked great for her Japanese beetle problem—they didn’t destroy her Rose of Sharon flowers this year because the birds ate the beetles.  She also keeps critter food on hand for the squirrels, and that is specifically for our entertainment.

Misha and I wait by the living room window

Most of the birds that come to the feeders are small finches.  They eat at the bird feeder and then hop over to the Rose of Sharon for a tasty bug.  Sometimes there are woodpeckers, cardinals, and, though rare, an occasional blue jay.  Jen loves the blue jays the best.  The finches are the most entertaining because they hop around so much.  There is one bird I do not like—a nasty starling that yells at me when the window is open.  Every time this happens I go to Jen with a grumpy attitude.

Jen set the one feeder off to the side and now calls it the squirrel feeder.  She fills that one with critter food for the squirrels and ducks—yes, we have ducks because there are two ponds and a lake nearby.  Usually, when she fills the feeders, she dumps seed on the patio table so we can see the wildlife up close.  The other day she moved the table even closer to the window, so it’s almost as if the squirrels and birds are right on top of us!  The other cats don’t seem to find it as entertaining as I do, and the dog just barks at the squirrels, which scares them away.  Sometimes Jen will sit on the bench with me to watch the animals outside.  She seems to really love squirrels, saying they are fascinating and “adorable” with their little hands.  I just like to pretend to stalk them.

I like to watch this guy eat!

When the weather is nice, I love it when my humans open the windows.  I can be upstairs fast asleep, but as soon as I hear that living room window open, I run downstairs and skid around the corner to get there first.  The smells, the sounds, the fresh air…  I love all of it!  I like to put my feet on the window screen, but the humans usually tell me to stop it when they hear my claws scratching the screen.  Jen even has my food bowl placed so I can watch out the window while I eat.

Sometimes I’m allowed to go outside if I wear a harness, which I hate.  It isn’t as fun because all of the birds and squirrels run and hide, though I do like to smell the ground and the plants.  I spent so much time outside before I met my family—I don’t feel that I really need to be outside that much anymore.  I just love watching the wildlife at our feeders from my cozy bench, my food bowl in sight.  It’s the prefect way to spend the day.

Of course there was that time shortly after Jen bought a new TV and we watched A Bug's Life together.  That was almost as fascinating as watching the birds and squirrels outside!