THIEF!!!!!!!!!!!

[herbivore12]

Add that to an appearance rather like an overgrown rat (think of a rat the size of a LARGE cat) and it was nothing you want to confront from a distance of 10 inches.

Once, when I was working as a volunteer at a wildlife rehab center, I got a call from a woman who was absolutely hysterical, sobbing and weeping and hyperventilating. I got her calmed down a bit and asked why she was calling. Between ragged gasps, she managed to stammer: "A, a, a...a rat! A hu-hu-hu-HUGE rat! In my garbage!" I kept trying to calm her down -- I mean, I knew people wre scared of rats and mice, but geez -- and finally she said, "And it's MUTATED!"

"What?!" I was confused. A mutant rat, in Berkeley?

"YES," she yelled. "It's, it's HUGE, and it's grey, and IT HAS HUMAN HANDS! A BABY'S HANDS!" and started crying again. I told her I'd come right over, knowing what I'd find.

Yep. It was a possum.

Someone also brought me a "duck", which turned out to be a blackbird. "I *thought* it looked weird," the lady said when I told her what she really had in the box.

[TonyHiggins]

Someone also brought me a "duck", which turned out to be a blackbird. "I *thought* it looked weird," the lady said when I told her what she really had in the box.

I read once that these people brought this stray 'dog' they had picked up south of the border to a vet to get it vaccinated. It was a (excuse the spelling) capiberra, a large water dwelling rodent that looks more like a pig than a dog.

My coworker got a medical advice call from someone who said she was 'bitten on the tongue by a wild rat.' I didn't get a chance to question the caller, so I'm left with pondering what she meant for the rest of my life.

My own bird stories: nothing great, but the synchronicity may be a sign...
I'm sitting on a park bench at lunch time at my favorite garden spot, headphones on, book in one hand, half a peeled orange in the other, palm up. Splat! Bird dookie in my palm- just narrowly missed my delicious orange. Would have hated to throw it out. Then a few days later, my car is deluged on one side. The car wash didn't even take it out. And then, right after that, I'm standing at a cross walk waiting for the light to change on a sunny day and I feel wet droplets hit my face. I look up at this sparrow showering us pedestrians. The unifying factor in these 3 events was there was a bare-branched tree at each location. Now, I won't walk under one or park my car near one. Scarred for life. So, anyway, Jerry, hint, hint about the whistle order.
Tony

[Jerry Freeman]

Patience, Grasshopper. It will be soon.

[brianormond]

-A beloved family cat named "Murphy" had insatiable lust for turkey-not fish or chicken. Birds fresh from the oven turned this cuddly cat limbic-climbing pantlegs with claws extended to get to the turkey- a little painful when performed by a 20-pound cat. A conciliatory handout would make his eyes roll back like a great white shark's, then he'd bolt for the basement with feral growl as though another cat were about to snatch it. Another amusement were his attempts to divert ice cream spoons midway 'twixt bowl and lip while he lay on one's lap, sending up a furry probe to encourage a course change. He survived a car runover to our delight, and lived to a ripe old age of 21-pretty good for a cat I think.

-Our other cat "Luigi" would lay by the ping-pong net and intercept the ball in play. We'd hear him at night batting it around amusing himself. (His name was inspired by a friend whose mischievous exploits led him to offer an inquiring officer of the law a fictitious name, "Luigi Biaboni" after some nameless indiscretion in Cleveland, Ohio circa 1966. Said friend had an olive skin tone and was believable as a purported south Italian migrant unfamiliar with American ways. His real name offered little comparative latitude in excuse making and will be omitted here as it was omitted for the officer.) Same beast had a favorite sunbathing spot-in the middle of a birdfeed pile out back, and could never figure out why those intriguing little birds wouldn't approach his large orange & white form. Fittingly, that was where he expired after many years of good companionship-his last moments spent blissed out in sunshine & willing to enjoy a birdish meal should fortune send one his way.

[fancypiper]

When the kids were young, we had a budgie (parakeet) named joey that was one of the plainest talkers I have heard in a parakeet. Almost everybody understood what he said the first time they heard him.

He loved people and would jump on anybody new, crawl arount to reach their lips and nip until they would say something. I taught him to say "Oh, shut up" in a Donald Duck voice and you would swear it was DD himself. They would take him to school and when it would get right quiet or in the middle of the teacher's spiel, he would crack the kids up with that.

He loved to get on the floor and play with the kids. They got some electric track cars and he would chase after them and try to pull them off the track. Once he succeeded, he was no longer interested.

You could make a grabbing motion towards him and he would say "I'll getcha!" Once he was playing on our floor and our very gentle cat, Daemon, peeked around the corner, reached her paw out in a patting motion toward him and the hollered "I'll getcha!"

Daemon was a cat that never used her claws inside the house (except for one side of the couch).

Later on, Daemon vanished and we got a part Siamese cat and I forgot to cage the bird when we left for work and the cat was left in as well. I found 3 feathers and felt like a murderer for a long time...

[ravensdream]

There was a similar case in Charlottesville, VA, several years ago. Teachers in a middle school kept finding their windshield wiper blades stolen. Not the full wipers, just the rubber parts. They did the same thing, set up a camera in the parking lot. It turned out to be a raven that was eating the rubber. Evidently this isn't such unusual behavior; ravens can develop a mineral deficiency that gives them an urge to eat rubber

And all this time I thought I was eating black licorice!
Raven

[TonyHiggins]

My sister told me she was at her sister-in-law's house years ago and her son sat next to the family's caged Minah bird. My nephew was 3yrs old. The bird said, "Ya want a raisin?" Eddy replied, "Sure," and waited. Eventually, he looked away and the bird repeated, "Ya want a raisin?" Eddy repeats, "Sure." And waits. Now, the whole room is watching the interaction. I forget what she told me happened after that, but the story started out good, huh?
Tony
(Now, I've been told I gotta go clean my room. Can you believe it? At my age?)