Bird Houses for the Purple Martins

The Purple Martin is the largest swallow found in North America. The adult has a slightly forked tail which aids it in flight, giving it speed and agility. When approaching its housing, the purple martin will dive from the sky at great speed with its wings tucked.

It takes two years for this species to reach its full adult breeding plumage and only then is it possible to, properly, identify them. Adult males are entirely black with a glossy steel blue sheen while adult females are dark on top with some steel blue sheen and lighter under parts.

The eastern species of the purple martins nest exclusively, in man-made bird houses. It is the only species of bird totally dependent on humans for nest sites. It is important to note that purple martin houses that are unmonitored often become breeding houses for starlings and sparrows—species that are a primary reason for the declining of the martin population in North America. These species often kill martins for their nest cavity. Because of the devastating effect that these intruders have on the martins, many landlords trap these species to insure the survival of the martin colonies.

The breeding habitat of the purple martins is found across eastern North America. There are, also, some locations on the West Coast from Columbia to Mexico. This species, typically, breeds in colonies, often multi-rooms for multi families located in proximity to human housing. In the winter, they migrate to the Amazon basin extending into Ecuador.

Purple martins are aerial insectivores. They catch insects in the air. They are very agile and eat a variety of winged insects. Occasionally, they will come to ground level to eat insects. This makes them great friends of the American gardener. They, usually, fly very high and because of this, they are not much of a threat to mosquitoes.

What Cats Like To Play With By Guido Nussbaum

In order to understand what cats like to play with, you need to first understand the nature of you cat. We call cats pets but actually 90% of their nature is still 'wild'. Cats don't 'think', they act in most cases on their natural instincts.

Cats can be categorized as 'sneakers and hunters'. They hunt birds, mice and other small animals. Their method is, they sneak as close as possible towards their prey. Then they have the best chances to suddenly appear right next to the prey and grab it. If you understand this hunting behavior, you can have a lot of fun playing with your cat. Playing is absolutely necessary for the health and feelings of your cat. Here are some ideas on how you can do it:

- Take a straw and hide behind a furniture. Leave only a little piece of the straw that can be seen by your cat. Then move the straw backwards, so that the cat can see less of it. I bet you, the cat will jump at it before it's all gone behind the furniture.

- Take a piece of paper and crumple it to a ball. Then put a little cord around it and tie it up. Your cat will love this toy, you can use it for any kind of stuff. You hand hold it just as high that your cat can reach the ball. You can will jump at it. My cat used to do even somersaults when I used that toy.

- Cats will run after all kinds of little balls, like those little ones made of paper. Unfortunately they don't bring the balls back like dogs do it...

- You can use long tiny branches, sticks or blade of gras to play with your cat.

So there are various ways to play with your cat. Keep in mind that they like to chase, hide and creap than you will be able to come up with all kinds of new ideas on how to play with your cat. Be aware that cats don't always want to play. Cats sleep a lot during daytime and they might not want to be boughered. They are just different than dogs, they have their own 'will'. You can not force a cat to do anything, the cat will show you what it likes and what not, so listen carefully!

Finally you should give your cat the possibility to go outside the house, if possible. Cats love the nature and they love to play in the garden. Don't be afraid that your cat runs away, it will come back if you treated it good... You should get the cat used to be outside the house when it is little, then it will be able to build it's natural instincts.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=134002&ca=Pets