Tag Archives: egret

The Return of the Egret

When we moved into our current home almost two years ago, an egret would show up every afternoon expecting to be fed. I assumed the previous resident had fed the bird and I felt bad letting him (I will assume it is male for this writing) go hungry, but we typically don’t have meat suitable for birds lying around the house. I tried giving him cat food but that was a no-go. We did buy hot dogs for him once but we are not always home and didn’t want the bird to become dependent on us so we stopped feeding him when the dogs were gone. Soon he only came around occasionally and then not at all.

That changed the other day when he showed up at our back door looking for food. I’m not sure what changed but he apparently has a long memory.

Again we had no food for him. Rose wanted me to throw him some cheese but I didn’t think that was a good idea, partially because the cats were very interested in him and opening the door would have been difficult with two bad cats and Puck wanting to run out.

Eventually he got the hint and went away. I felt very bad not giving him anything but I think it would be better if I teach him how to fish.

The Return of Our Feathered Friend

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Our Egret returned last weekend looking for food. I tried giving him a little ham and Puck managed to slip past me and ran outside. He just ignored the big bird and ran off to do his own thing. I decided to let Chris out too but Frankie had to stay in after what he did on his first foray outside. Both cats seemed to not be interested in the egret and the egret seemed to not be afraid that two cats were running around the yard.

I felt bad that Frankie did not get to participate. We talked about letting him out today. I said it would probably be okay if Rose stayed and helped watch him but she was skeptical so only Chris got to spend some time outside, and that was only because he escaped twice while I was coming through the door.

Photo Friday: For The Birds

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When we moved into our current home in June, there was an egret that would come by every day and hang out by our back door waiting for us to feed him. We assumed the woman that lived there before us would feed him everyday and he came to expect it. I did not really want to continue the tradition but I felt like we should wean him off the handouts. Unfortunately we had no meat to give him other than cat food so I put some out for him but he was not very interested. Eventually he went away but then suddenly showed up at our door the other evening.

All the cats were on the patio, interested in what this bird was doing so close to their space. We only had sliced ham for him so I tore a piece into smaller pieces and threw them to him. He gobbled those up quickly and stuck around begging for more.

Rose gave me another piece so I did the same thing. This time Puck ran out the door and chased the bird back but he didn’t leave the yard. I then had to spend the next ten minutes chasing Puck back and forth until Rose finally opened the door and I was able to corral him back onto the patio.