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Tuesday 3 March 2009

MULTIPLY Visual Aid #1: From a feline perspective

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Now this one is right up my street. First of all let me introduce myself. I am Nera the most intelligent cat belonging to Mrs. Human. At the moment Mrs. Human is busy doing something called housework so I thought I would say a few words about this picture. The thing you have to know is that from the point of view of a human, this picture probably arouses such ideas as “poor little bird out in the cold snow” or “what a pretty sight to see a bird in a tree in front of the window”. The basic impression on a cat is “Look, something fresh for dinner”, although it is not an easy task.

First of all we have the bird up on a tree, which is too high for me and my feline friends. The first thought is naturally how do we get the bird down from the tree? This is not an easy task, but there are birds that like to look for their food on ground level. If you are lucky, it might be such a bird and this example seems to be such a species. The first thing is to wait until the bird descends from the tree. This needs a lot of patience. Generally we feline experts crouch behind a bush in the garden, nicely hidden from the view of the bird. There is a large disadvantage in this picture as the surroundings are wet, full of snow and it is common knowledge that we cats do not like to get wet, at least not from something that descends. Walking through snow is not so bad, although is to be taken in small doses.

So back to the bird, it is hungry and flies to ground level looking for whatever birds look for. I am not so well acquainted with the bird diet but generally the humans give them seeds from plants, although I have seen a bird help itself to a worm from the garden – disgusting creatures really.. We felines now have to be very careful, making no noise and no immediate movements. Birds are not as stupid as you might think. As soon as they notice a movement they are away and they can be very quick.

Coming back to the picture, it is quite obvious that a human is looking out of an open window. If the human makes enough noise, which is probably the case, humans being quite clumsy creatures sometimes, it will probably frighten the bird away, but we cats are watching, following the movements of the flying bird with our eyes and waiting until it settles. We have generations of training in our body and brain. Reflecting to the days when we did a deal with the Egyptians. They needed us to protect their food, and we were well rewarded. The main part of the diet was mouse in the corn chambers, but out in the fields there were plenty of birds hanging around for some corn. We felines were always ready for a supplement and those birds were not hanging around very long when we were there.

Today, things have changed. Birds have become careful and just do not wait for a cat to walk past. The best moments are when the humans actually feed the birds. If you are lucky there will be a few birds pecking away at the food on the ground and that is the time to pounce.

So human, if you see a sweet little bird in front of the window, spare a thought for your feline friends and send it in our direction.

I will now have to go, I just saw a nice small feathery friend fly past the window. Looks like food might be landing in the garden soon.




Visual Aid #1: From a feline perspective

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