Heidi Chronicles: A Chill Is In The Air

Cheryl -- i remember those pics you posted of those HUGE ducks and Geese last year. YEs, they can be quire intimidating.

We have a pair of mated Muted Swans in town .... for some reason, they can not produce viable eggs... yet she sits on her nest for months. They are so graceful ... but dont piss'em off. At home I have a lot of pics of them... babies [the last gaggle they produced] Mom and Dad... and half the time Dad is chasing someone away.

Sounds like an awesome evening with Heidi and kits.

I think we all want to be you, even for just one night to experience the joy and the magic. Thank goodness we at leats have you to share and write about it, so much joy would be lost if ya had never had started.

Terese, that sounds like the swan behavior I know and remember well. They give a new meaning to protective parenting....

And Cheryl, trust me, if I'd been holding the oars in that little rowboat, I would have been hauling butt back to shore (lol). Unfortunately holding a net with a four-foot wide bail and a five-foot handle, and rowing, are mutually exclusive. It was worth it to get the injured baby to a rehabber, but I was as uncomfortable on that call as I was on high ladders trying to rescue cats from high trees. Really don't like heights much...
Ruth

OMG, Ruth,

You are one daring and adventurous soul! That reminds me of the time our cat ran up a tall and relatively narrow pine tree in the back yard. My parents said he would come down on his own when he got hungry. He didn't. Days went by and there he sat in the crotch of the 1st limb (way the heck up there), the tree gently swaying in the cold, winter wind. Ok, it was SC cold, not Alaska cold, but it got colder there than it does here. My parents put meat and mild at the base of the tree. They said he would come down for that. He didn't.

Finally, realizing that the poor kitty was just too terrified up there to move, my Dad decided to go up and rescue him. Seeing that even his extension ladder did not reach that 1st limb, but determined to get the cat down so we kids wouldn't have to watch the family pet turn to a skeleton up there, Dad drove his truck under the tree, put the ladder on top of the truck (as we all know you should never, ever do!), and finally managed to reach the terrified cat - whereupon his bravery was promptly rewarded with a dozen or so cuts and scratches on the way down. (But I'm sure you had a better way of dealing with these matters than to go up bare handed and try to hold the terrified feline against your chest while climbing back down. lol) Thankfully, 'kitty' lived to a ripe, old age and never went back up into that particular tree again - or at least not that high in the tree.

I for one am not that brave. I, too, am terrified of heights. As a youngster I wouldn't even go up the attic stairs. But my fear of heights was apparently selective. I looked up to my brother and would follow him into all manners of dangerous situations. When I was about 8, he and I determined that we could climb a tree onto the top of my father's workshop - and then jump, yes, jump down pretending we were parachuting. Every time we landed, we would climb back up and jump again - until Mom spotted us from the kitchen window, that is. Hmm. This might explain some of the wear and tear on my damaged knees.

I once had a job in which I was required to climb 40 to 50ft up the side of a building or the mast of a ship. The ladders were the type that are vertical (not slanted, but straight up so that you could not stop and lean against the ladder to rest). These ladders consisted of round metal bars. Often this type of ladder has a circular metal safety enclosure around it, but ours did not. To this day I still cannot believe I climbed those ladder, but I did, many times, and carrying a bag of tools and supplies in one hand. At the time I was just so determined not to be that whiny girl the guys all expected me to be, so terrified as I was I climbed those ladders one rung at a time all the while cursing and insisting I was not going up that ladder.

Terese,

The other day I did some research to determine how those big Muscovy ducks compare to swans. I've only seen swans from a distance as they were swimming on ponds but have not been close enough to realize how large they really are. Wow, they are huge. Depending on the type of swan, the literature suggested a range of 52-59in from beak to tail and a weight of 20-28lbs. Now that is some 'bird'. (I think the smaller numbers are for Tundra swans vs the larger numbers for Trumpeter swans.)

Based on their coloring, our Muscovy ducks appear to be not the original wild ducks from S America but feral groups of domestic ducks. The domestic Muscovy originated from the wild ducks but were cross bred with a couple of other large ducks to produce a large carcass and beef-like flavor for the dinner table. Apparently, descendants of escaped domestic Muscovy now inhabit our area. Males (which surely those giant ducks standing on my feet must have been) are described as being roughly 39in long (note that they don't have the long, graceful neck of the swan) and around 20lbs in weight which puts them in the range of the smaller Tundra swans. For those of you familiar with swans, this info might give you an idea of the size of these 'monster' ducks. (From what I've read, Donald Duck is a Muscovy, BTW.)

The literature also discussed problems associated with these feral Muscovy, noting that they can be extremely aggressive when begging for handouts. That is exactly what I noted. At least now I feel vindicated. I had felt somewhat silly being intimidated by a duck, but those Goliath ducks are pushy. I must admit that I gave them more food than I had intended - just to pay for my safety.

Awh, starlight,

Thank you! I do so wish that each of you could come here and spend an evening (or two) with the gang. I doubt the raccoons would come out with strangers around. Wouldn't it be great if they would? I could open a my backyard for raccoon viewing - by appointment only, of course, to insure that only those who really care about them would be allowed in and only one person per evening - and charge a small fee to pay for their food. Yes, I'm just dreaming now, but it's a nice dream...

check out the 'wake' he made when i was really movin' ....

these images were taken June of 01 ... and as i recall, this was the last time they had babies.

here is "Dad" -- and the kid is my now 18yr old.

mom and babies

last one.... but here is "dad" all Fluffed up ... basically saying... Back off......

they arch their wings like that to make themselves look BIGGER.... like that isnt' hard to do.

Great photos, Terese!

Now I'm envious. As a little girl watching the swans swimming under the little walking bridge at the park, I always wanted to get close to them, feed them, etc. It must be awesome - and a bit intimidating - to be so close to those gorgeous creatures. I had no idea they were so large.

The 1st pic is gorgeous, and, yes, that wake does say a lot about the size and power of the bird.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

They are very pretty! I haven't seen one in ages.

this is totally OT .... but i just read that Trois passed away on Sept 1st.

I'm just stunned.

I know most of us have seen his fantastic photos of critters.

he will certainly be missed.

here is the thread posted by his Grandson.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/898576/

This year's photography contest is being dedicated to Trois. I think that is quite fitting.

yes -- that is where i read it. I'm still shocked.

He certainly was a great photographer.

At the bottom of my home page I have the latest posts tracker (I think that must be the default configuration). Sometimes I glance at it when I'm in lurking mode. One day in late Sept I saw the 'Trois" thread in the Memory Garden Forum. As soon as I saw it I knew what that had to mean, yet I could not let myself believe it. I followed the link only to find that Trois had, in fact, passed away. I felt a sense of personal grief that seemed almost disproportionate. It was at that moment that I realized how much the internet has changed our lives. The people we meet online are not just 'virtual' people they are very real, flesh and blood human beings who touch our lives in very real and myriad ways.

I had enjoyed Trois' threads and his photos and had spoken with him about several of them, particularly his photos of the blue jay that ate from his hand; the pics of the opossum giving birth as she ate at the bird feeder; and his many excellent pics of the raccoons who came to visit. I had no idea he was even sick. (Unlike some people - me) Trois didn't complain much about his condition, so his passing came as a great shock to me as I imagine it did to most, and I felt a tremendous sense of loss to realize that I would never again see a Trois thread and there would be no more Trois photos.

Edited to add that the difficulty will be in choosing just one of Trois' many excellent photos. It would seem easier to produce a separate Trois calendar.

I think it is a wonderful idea to dedicate the photo contest to Trois. I believe I also read that one of his photos would be used on the cover of the 09 calendar. I think that is also a fabulous idea.

This message was edited Nov 2, 2008 10:03 PM

So sorry to hear about Trois; that is a great loss to all of us, and to his family and offline friends.

Tcs, great swan photos! Those are very familiar poses in my memory, though the swans I dealt with were black.

Cheryl, honestly I'm neither brave nor adventurous; rescuing animals was my job, and because I cared a lot about the animals I always gave it my best shot. But I swear those calls involving ladders took time off my life; my heart rate and adrenalin level must have been in the stratosphere. Our animal control dept. had an agreement with the fire department; the fire guys would come out and provide and heel the ladder, so at least we didn't have to worry that it would fall over with us on it. But they would not handle animals: not their job, and we didn't blame them. We were slightly better equipped than your dad, but not by a lot; you can't really carry much up there. We had gloves with good scratch- and bite-resistance, and always carried a pillowcase; the goal was to stuff the cat in the pillowcase, so you didn't have to worry about controlling the cat while climbing down. That was the theory; reality was often different. Often the cat was out on a limb that wouldn't support the ladder, or ran out on a limb because the ladder coming up scared him witless; so you'd have to climb up and talk the cat into coming close enough to grab. Since the cats were always terrified, this wasn't easy. When the cat was close enough, you'd grab his or her scruff, using the other hand to pry the claws out of the limb or trunk, often leaning off the side of the ladder to do so; that was the scariest part. Then you'd quickly put the open pillowcase under the cat's butt, still holding the scruff with the other hand, and try to insert cat into pillowcase. By then all eighteen claws were firmly enmeshed in your clothes and body, the cat was panicking, and often you had to give up and drop the empty pillowcase. In or out of pillowcase, you needed one hand to control the cat, so had to climb down one-handed; it was all I could do not to get down and kiss mother earth after handing off the cat to its owner.

I learned to deal with the heights, which I never stopped fearing, by simply not looking down. That worked very well when the cat was in a tree, much less well when the cat was on a roof and you had to step backwards off the roof onto the ladder while holding the pillowcase; looking down was pretty much essential then. The very worst call involved a cat on the roof of a house with gorgeous and expensive landscaping; the owner wouldn't allow Fire to heel the ladder near the house for fear of damaging the landscaping. This was her cat; I really didn't get it. The fire guys had to run the big honking ladder that's attached to and powered from the truck, all the way from the street across an endless expanse of lawn and garden. The darn thing ran at an angle that felt pretty horizontal, and the rungs on that ladder are huge and much more widely spaced than normal; I was basically on my belly, looking straight down, praying I could reach the next rung without falling through. I got the cat, successfully got her into the pillowcase, and then sat on that roof for what felt like forever, wondering how I could lie on my belly, back off that roof one-handed onto that ladder, and navigate back when I couldn't even see where the next rung was. I'm sure the fire guys knew I was having a meltdown; one of them scampered across the ladder, took the pillowcase, and talked me through the way back down. I felt like a total wimp, but I'm afraid I'd still be on that blasted roof without his help; that one pushed me way beyond what my phobia could handle.

As you said, Cheryl, it was not a "same old, same old" kind of job. Oh, lots of it was insufferably boring, as in most jobs; but you never knew what the next call would be, and it was always a rush to be able to get an animal out of trouble.

I saw a piece on the news last week about a cat in a tree. It had been there four days I think. They called the firemen in and what did they do? They hosed it down! The cat fell (don't quote me on this)I think they said it was 60 feet to the ground. They showed the video and it was shocking how far it fell but the newsmen swore the only injury to the cat was a broken tooth. They said now the cat had only 8 lives left.

I have had a couple of encounters with my little ones out back. Last week one kit couldn't wait for me to fill the bowls and came out again before I could get back behind my side of the fence. I had to walk by her which was only about a foot and she just kept eating. I was shocked to see how big she had gotten and more than a little bit apprehensive as I walked by her. Last night I watched(from my side)as 3 little ones came out to eat but they were so tiny they had to be from a different mom as these three were as small as my small cat. They were so cute as they were slowly walking the path. Then about seven or eight feet away one gave a couple snorting sounds as it ran full speed to a bowl. She acted like a kid on Christmas morning discovering the most beautiful doll she had ever seen and it was all hers!

Sounds like the kits are slowly becoming accustomed to you, and that's awesome; I can just imagine the excitement as they found all that good stuff waiting for them!

Hosing that cat out of a tree is just horrible. It's a myth that cats always land on their feet without damage; it all depends on the height involved. Vets are painfully aware of what's known as "high-rise syndrome," when a cat falls from the wrong height. Yes, they try to land on their feet, but the speed at impact is just too great and the damage is great or catastrophic: shattered jaws and limbs, often with internal damage, are very common.

We used to take a lot of ribbing each time we dealt with a new crew from the fire department, and heard jokes ad nauseum about how they'd never seen a cat skeleton in a tree or on a roof. We refrained from pointing out that wind would remove the skeletons from their perch, and gently tried to educate them. Some got it, some didn't; but they always came out and helped, even if they thought it was silly - and we were very grateful for that, since we couldn't do it safely alone.

I climbed a ladder and got up on a roof to rescue a couple kitties once, but they were tame, and didn't run away or try to fight. That is horrible about the fire hose! The water pressure alone would be enough to injure the poor thing.

I have to comment on the voting for animal pics.... it's SOOOO hard. I want to vote for the raccoon pics, 'specially the kits.... but there are so many fantastic entries....

Cheryl -- i dont see any of yours....

These itty stories remind me of when my Morris got tree-ed and was up there for days on end and no amoutn of bologna or choicken would bring him down and finaly got a short ladder and jumped up to lowest branch and climbed ot top and had a mess tryign to get my kitty down.

before I did the climb thing I called th efire department to ask them to come get my kitty and the cheif said . Mam we dont recuse kitty. I got mad and said well ya do on tv.

Well so happened when ya try and kitty down that scare dand hungry they all calws and snarl and I couldn't get me and Morris back down safetly, so the neighbro had to call fire department to rescue us both. The cheif ws not happy. I just looked ta him smiled, said thank you and said See ya do rescue kitties. Thought he was gonna deck me.

Was a terrible mornign this mornign on th evackroads f oudn five dead racoons in one short two mile area. cried for them little bodies.

Aw Starlight,I was going to tell you I had a great laugh about you and the firemen,then I read the last paragraph and got sad. I saw one on the road yesterday and felt bad also.

But back to you and kitty getting rescued by the very fireman that refused to come out. Bet he had a story to tell his family when he got home. They all have rules I suppose but somebody(I think it was my brother when he was 12)once told me rules were ment to be broken.........Dad did not agree!!!!!!!

Judy

I figure it this way, if they not gonna rescue animals they shouldn't show on tv that they do. At least they never did send me the 500 dollar bill he said I was gonna get. Would have been worth every penny of it though. Morris was a carnvial kitten somebody threw out and even with my allergies to cats I couldn't leave it behind.

Starlight, good on you! In different communities, fire departments have different policies about rescuing animals, though almost all will do their best to rescue if they find an animal in a burning building. They have "good reasons" for refusing to do calls about cats in trees, on roofs, etc.: they don't have the training or equipment to handle animals, they can't risk having the trucks and personnel tied up if a call comes in about a fire, etc. And as you learned, cats are not grateful for the rescue attempt when terrified, and can hurt you badly if you're not properly trained and equipped. What's needed is for someone in animal control to achieve a compromise like we did: asking the fire dept. to provide the ladder and a safe footing, and let the animal people go about their jobs to resuce the animal. There's actually a lot of "down time" for most fire crews, especially during daytime, and I think they found it an entertaining change of pace to come out and help us. As they watched us do our thing, especially those of us like me who clearly had real issues with heights, they gained some respect for us and what we did...even if they'd "never seen a cat skeleton in a tree" (lol). It's comforting to think that the cat will come down on his own when he gets hungry enough, but it's not always true; sometimes the terror freezes the cat in place too long, and they eventually don't have the strength to climb down safely on their own. This is always true when the cat is a front declaw, BTW; the rear claws will get them up, but they simply cannot get down safely. I'm not a fan of declawing; but if it must be done, the cat should be kept indoors only as a matter of his or her survival.

Hi, Everyone,

I'm taking a quick break (at work) to enjoy the stories while no one is looking (yeah, right). Sorry, haven't had time to breath lately much less go online. Haven't even been staying out there with the raccoons, just putting out the food, saying a quick 'hi' and leaving. Too much to do right now.


Terese, Sorry but the bad news is that I lost track of time (with all that is going on) and missed the deadline. I felt especially bad since you and others went to the trouble to help me pick out your favs. Maybe next year. Please accept my apology for that. The good news is, with all the great animal photos - and I new the competition would no doubt be fierce - you don't have to choose between pics of the gang and all those other great options. (I'll contact you soon RE the Rupert pic.)

Gotta go. Not enough days in the hour.

there were 3 cute 'coon pics in the Wildlife one... i chose 2 of the 3. Those lil babies are sooo adorable.
I just loved the one, really close up, showing it's teeth.

Hi Terese,

I can't wait to see them. I've been so busy I haven't even had a spare minute to start looking at the photos yet. (We are still not through with the stuff that absolutely positively had to be done by sept 30 08. I'm soooo tired now. Hope to be 'back' soon. P.S. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I mentally worked on a new 'dream' book from the raccoon's perspective.)

>>book from the raccoon's perspective.

OH how awesome that would be!!

Well, that was a great teaser, Cheryl (lol). When time permits, don't forget to tell us more about the envisioned book from raccoon perspective-
Ruth

I am so sad. I had to bury a young kit today. I saw it lying dead on our back steps--no evident trauma, so must've been sick, which scares me. I did see regurgitated cat food yesterday out there, too. I hope there isn't something going around out there. I guess I better trap our feral kitty cat and take her in for testing, shots, and spaying. I was going to wait until she's a little older, as she doesn't appear to be six months yet.

Oh that had to be awful for you..hard to know what may have happened or what to watch for with our wild visitors.

Awwwwww poor little thing. it hard when ya fidn liek that especially when they at your back door. Is the kitty showing any funny signs of being sick incase it the kitty food or somethign gettign dumped maybe on the kitty food. Don't racoons usually have iron stomachs since they just about anything?

Hey Cheryl .... . i was reading the top post again, and you have that Jerry is an 09 kit, not 08. :-)

KyWoods, I'm so sorry about the kit; that's just a heartbreaking find, and worrisome. Raccoons are vulnerable to dog diseases like canine distemper and parvovirus, and the young are especially vulnerable. If the folks in your area aren't savvy about keeping their dogs' vaccines up to date, the dogs can serve as a source of infection for raccoons who travel through their yard. Feline panleukopenia, once called feline "distemper," is the origin of canine parvo; so raccoons can contract that as well if there are infected cats in the area. With that in mind, yes it probably would be wise to trap and vaccinate your young feral kitty sooner rather than later. Many vets will do pre-puberty spay and neuter these days, so hopefully that could happen at the same time as well.

Thank you, I appreciate that advice! Will do! Do you think I should try camouflaging the trap this time, because I did trap her once to try to bring her indoors to tame her, but was made to turn her loose (I live with my parents). I'm afraid she won't go near the trap if she sees it again, though I could try.

I'm so happy I found this thread again! I lost it for a while and just found it! I'll try ti keep it, now!

KyWoods, maybe if she doesn't get any food for a coupel of days and you do the camoflauge thing she will be hungry enough to maybe go ahead and chance the trap. All th e cats an dkittens I have met are pretty darn smart. it not easy to fool them.

KyWoods, you definitely want to camoflauge the trap since you've caught her previously. An old blanket or tarp would work fine, anything that will make it look more cave-like and less cage-like. If she's old enough to enjoy catnip, try putting a small catnip toy at the very back of the trap; that can be a stronger draw than food, especially if they're trap-wise.

All those ideas sound smart--thanks, everyone. I'll keep you posted on the results.