DEAR JOAN: We’ve not too long ago seen a bobcat, as soon as in our yard strolling on our deck proper previous the sliding display door, after which once more two days in the past strolling within the entrance of the home from the home subsequent door, previous our home to the 2 neighbors’ homes.
Are they on the lookout for meals? We reside in a court docket proper close to Los Alamitos Creek. We wouldn’t have any pets and neither do any neighbors on our aspect of the court docket.
Additionally we discovered some scat — most likely from the bobcat — subsequent to our home in an space the place we simply have little stones filling the realm.
What do you recommend to spray the place the scat is after we take away it? Will it come again and depart some extra?
Any hints might be appreciated.
— Maryke WIlliams, Almaden
DEAR MARYKE: Though it may be disconcerting to see a wild animal casually strolling by your neighborhood, bobcats don’t often pose a menace to people. Identified assaults on individuals have all been as a result of the bobcat was threatened and defending itself, or the cat had rabies, which now that I say it doesn’t sound as reassuring as I hoped.
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You’re most likely seeing just one bobcat and sure, most definitely it was on the lookout for meals, which might embrace small pets, rodents, chickens and different birds, and smallish wildlife. Your neighborhood might be a part of its territory, or it may also have simply been passing by.
Despite the fact that you don’t have pets, you and your neighbors ought to check out what you may by chance offer the bobcat, equivalent to water from swimming pools, fountains or birdbaths. Overgrown shrubs could be offering shelter. Hen feeders additionally may curiosity a bobcat, not as a result of it likes birdseed, however as a result of it likes the birds and rodents that just like the birdseed.
Those that do have pets and babies ought to by no means depart them exterior unattended, and if a bobcat wanders in an space the place you don’t need it, make loud noises or toss tennis balls in its path to scare it away.
You’ll be able to attempt business wildlife deterrents, accessible at your favourite house enchancment retailer, or you’ll be able to soak rags in ammonia and scatter them about. I’d spray some ammonia on the rocks after you’ve cleaned up the scat to assist discourage future visits.
DEAR JOAN: I’ve a big fowl bathtub in entrance of my window the place I’ve been watching birds for over 50 years. I’ve seen that doves do two issues that different birds don’t: they kiss they usually drink water like a horse as a substitute of the dip and pour technique that different birds use. Are they the one ones?
— Dick McCall, Woodside
DEAR DICK: The anatomy of the pigeon and dove beak is completely different from different birds. Whereas most birds scoop their beaks into the water after which tilt their heads as much as swallow, members of the Columbidae household (pigeons and doves) use their beaks like a straw, sucking up the water. They’re the one birds so gifted.
They aren’t the one birds that seem to kiss, nonetheless. Many others do, together with parrots and bald eagles. It may be an indication of affection between mated pairs, or an trade of meals.
