Animal behaviour getting weird in my area

a reply to: virraszto

I don't know about anywhere else, but in my backyard, it was the Year of Daddy Long Legs! While doing yard work this summer, I noticed what looked like hundreds of DDL on a wood pile. There were so many they were climbing on top of each other. They were big too!

be thankful they were not this bad girl

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I thought mine was bad, but that's one nasty spider!

Found this guy outside making a web and catching his dinner. I was ok with
him there, but right after I filmed this, I went in and came right back outside
and he was gone.
Talk about freaking out! The instant fear came over me that he had dropped
down on me while filming and I immediately began dancing around like an idiot,
brushing myself off. I was SO relieved when I came back out a few min later
and saw him back in his web, where he belongs. lol

I think this is a shamrock spider. I tried to id it and it looks like a close match.

Funny you mention daddy long legs. I'm visiting Alaska, for the second time, and there are so many daddy long legs. (Not actual spiders, from my understanding. Only one body segment, or something, and some time ago, I read the actually have a penis. No reason to point out the penis thing, cause I couldn't and am not going to prove it, but animal kingdom "fun fact," none-the-less.) Anyways, I don't know what it's like normally, but I've been setting lots of spiders, in a variety. I actually was reading my phone before sleeping last night, and a small "bugger" (see what I did there? Lol) crawled across my chest. I killed it after turning on the light and finding it again. I'm not super scared if spiders, but one of my worst nightmares as a child, even though I was somewhat awake, was that if spiders everywhere around me on the floor, which is where I was sleeping, and am now. I'll try, if I have time to document some, but don't hold your breaths.

originally posted by: khnum
I swear the pigeons which are cooing for hours on end are saying 'its started get prepared'',trees seem to be flowering at different times also.

Is mother nature acting weird in your area?

The pigeons are saying it's started get prepared? They give you an ETA too?

=Edit= -- This was a quote from the cat fight on page 1..... =_=

That was really quite the show. Thank you for that.

a reply to: RamsOnTop

im just impressed someone can speak pigeon... is that course available only at a college level or can i buy it from Rosetta Stone?

Although the IPCC and Al Gore have yet to
figure it out;
Every other living creature may have noticed the Sun
has fallen asleep, and an ice age is here.

originally posted by: UnderKingsPeak
Although the IPCC and Al Gore have yet to
figure it out;
Every other living creature may have noticed the Sun
has fallen asleep, and an ice age is here.

Interesting comment, do you have a source for this?

a reply to: BornAgainAlien

I think the birds had 20 bucks on the black cat.

I too have noticed an increase in spiders, both in quantity and size. (I've seen a lot of "daddy-long-legs", too). I used to kill insects in my house, but now I leave the spiders alone. I have several giant house-spiders that have spent the summer keeping the insect population inside my place very low.

As for crows... they are one of the most intelligent creatures on this planet and one of the few that is unafraid of man. (Not sure if they are terrified by women, but I sure am!) I have noticed that the crows in my neighborhood were in an uproar during the "solar storm", almost as if they were irritated or grumpy, perhaps.

check out this interesting article about crows: www.cracked.com...

a reply to: khnum

Everything normal here in the great lakes area. The rabbits that play freeze and run with my dog on his walks are the same as always. Birds and the bees that love my yard for the berries and flowers are plentiful and normal looking and acting. The ducks and geese by the fox river are normal far as I can see.

A few months ago my resident fox was being constantly harassed by a magpie behaving in a similar way to those birds and the fighting cats. Every evening it was hovering around as if trying to bite the foxes tail just for the fun of it. And the fox just put up with it. Several times it could have caught the magpie but she didn't. At times you could see her flinch when it pecked her rump. This went on for weeks. I'm not sure it was because of the magpie having young as I have seen them do this to a fox in the snow before now. Wierd!

a reply to: BornAgainAlien

Now that is pretty strange. The birds were egging that white cat the whole time, and at a point they were even going for the black cat tail. If anything you would think both cats would just turn on the birds. Its like some sort of spectator sport among the animal kingdom. It all looked like it was in somebody's back yard or street so I dont think its necessarily two birds protecting there nesting area, but it could be.

Though to tell the truth my cats do that all the time, at random times they just look at each other all funny, then the tails starts going back and forth real low, then all of a sudden they jump at eachother and go at it. It generally ends a few moments latter were they just stand around look at eachother again all funny ears back and hair up, eventually they either walk away, or end up licking one another.

I dont know whats more bizarre that video of those two cats going at it, like somebody stole somebodys catnip, or my cats who out of the blue would do the same thing all over nothing, then end up being all buddy buddy again a few moments latter.

Wow, whats up with the spider increase people are talking about?
I've noticed that too!

I was thinking it is the change in the weather here from summer to fall, but so far this week I have seen 3 huge orb weavers around my building, and a co worker was commenting about seeing more of them around.

Before this I have only noticed one orb weaver in the last 3 years.

Hubby and I were loading groceries into our truck and noticed a bunch of crows under the vehicle next to us. They were really acting agitated and aggressive and making odd noises instead of the usual "cawing" sound. They were making such odd vocal noises as if they were trying to form words. Never heard crows make sounds like that before. They didn't leave no matter who walked by and they stayed making those odd sounds.

Wasps and bees down South here have seemed extra aggressive this summer as well. They dive b*mb at us and you really have a hard time getting away from them or killing them. Yet, butterflies have been sitting on me while I sun bathe, LOL.

a reply to: khnum

When I lived up north in QLD I would see crows both in urban areas and out bush attack live prey - in particular cane toads - they flip them onto their backs and peck out their bellies so they don't get poisoned. In semi-urban and rural areas they've been known to peck at lamb's eyes and then go to town on them when they fall.

I'm sorry to hear about baby possum

Actually - come to think of it regarding crows - I've noticed the last couple of weeks they've been hanging out the back more so than they have in the last few years. My cat is bewildered by them and hides behind me when she sees and hears them. She's still a wee baby though, about 8 months old.

originally posted by: BornAgainAlien
a reply to: khnum

What do you think of this ?

unfair fight, 3 against 1
Could it be a racist thing?

a reply to: khnum
Yes.. We let our dog out several times a day to potty, and lately she always goes directly under the bush to the right of our porch and stays there till she is called in. There is never any critters or anything in there though. Don't know what to think of it.

Also, the tree in my front yard always drops (not really leaves, but these long green leaf-like green things) in October/November, but this year they dropped in July! Wet summer, not too hot and not too cool, so I don't gt that either.

The two cats are everybody else, the birds are sponsored by the US government.

Cheers - Dave