Red and yellow, black, brown, white – they are precious in His sight.

The colors of the wild birds spending time in Mountain City could fill a large crayon box.

Notable was Laura Craig’s sighting on April 22. She wrote on the Facebook of Birds of Texas, “It’s going to be a good day when it starts with seeing a lifer! A black and white Warbler crawled down my tree trunk to the fountain, got a quick drink and bath and took off. Too fast for a picture, but not my binoculars.”

On that day, I saw an Indigo Bunting along with the Painted Buntings that arrived a few days earlier.

The black, white and yellow Lesser Goldfinch still flock to our Wagner thistle. (Laura told me years ago … no other brand works as well.) And, they’re bathing in the bird bath.

Flocks of Cedar Waxwings were in Mountain City as recent as last week.

The beautiful red berries of the non-native nandina bush kill Cedar Waxwings. They’re toxic, but most birds do not eat enough to die. Cedar Waxwings, on the other hand, gorge on berries. If you have nandina, snip the berries to prevent waxwing poisonings.

For weeks, a beautiful red Summer Tanager has spent each day singing outside our kitchen window, often on our bird bath. He frequently gently pecks on our window. He woke my sister at 7 a.m. when she stayed with us last week. In all this time, I’ve seen not one female. Lonely must be frustrating.

To me, felines trespassing on our Certified Wildlife Habitat bring frustration. 

You might have read another columnist’s comments on feral cats a few weeks ago with mention of the “BirdBeSafe” bright-colored ruffled collar that goes over a break-away collar.

I invested in both collars with plans to trap trespassers and snap on a BirdBeSafe. On Easter afternoon, with a gray cat trapped, I donned my heaviest winter coat and rose pruning gloves and secured RonTom’s help. While I held the squirming, squealing cat, RonTom did not get to the collar before the angry cat gyrated and bit through the rose pruning gloves. Oops.

While washing the wound with hot, soapy water, I started making phone calls and checking online. I learned cat bites have high likelihood of leading to serious infection. Sure enough, when my primary care physician returned my call, she told me to get to the emergency room ASAP for antibiotics.

After a consultation with the ER doctor where we determined the neighbor who feeds the feral cat could watch for signs of rabies, I escaped that series of shots and left with the antibiotic prescription. 

When I looked for the cat’s owner, I posted on the “Mountain City Only” option on NextDoor.com. NextDoor has the option to post only to Mountain City or to all nearby neighborhoods or to specific neighborhoods.

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