Here’s another sweet kitten and a very beautifully colored one. This is the last of the five babies and I would dearly love for Lynne and her boys to adopt more than one of these cuties!

I do have sad news to report. Muffin, the mama cat, has disappeared. She’s been gone almost a week and was thought to have already come back in heat. I had no idea they could or would come back in this quickly. Her kittens were only seven weeks old at the time when the husband’s brother saw a male out there with her. I’m hoping beyond hope she comes home, but I am very concerned with the amount of time that has passed. I also feel guilty cause I didn’t have her spayed after the first litter. The plus is I do have these five kittens to love and play with, but I promise you I would be very happy to drive out tomorrow (or anytime) and find Miss Muffin waiting on the porch.

He’s not the best looking in the face, but this black and white kitty is the sweetest of the bunch. One more to post after this one.

Yet another litter mate and this one looks like he will keep the blue eyes inherited from his mom. His ears and tail are striped yellow although you can’t tell in this picture. A good looking fellow for sure!

The yellow kitten of Muffin’s from her March 15, 2008, litter. The runt is in the previous post and this guy will make two of her right now. He’s very laid back and needless to say, a fuzzy cutie… want him?

This is sweet Muffin’s runt from her second litter. It is a cute kitty and a tiny one at that. I was worried about her for a long time, but now that she is eating, she is finally growing. I haven’t shown these babies as often as I did her first litter since I haven’t been posting on this blog much. I am thoroughly enjoying them though. I go out to the old house where they reside in the country every afternoon and have a ball watching them play. All too soon the time has come to start looking for homes for them. Wish me luck!

This one is behind my next door neighbor’s home. I confess to manipulating the photo by darkening the background, however, it is not far removed from what my camera captured.

The eggs in my last post did not belong to the Black Vulture after all. When I crept into the barn to view the nest, there sat the adult on the eggs and it didn’t fly away. I could clearly see this was the Turkey Vulture as they have red heads.

The chick from yesterday is identified correctly as I photographed the adult Black Vulture as she flew and perched on top of the barn to watch me.

Must have been my lucky day, I should have bought a lottery ticket!

Although this Black Vulture Chick wouldn’t win any beauty contests, I did find it fascinating. The photos are on my photoblog and the story to go along with them underneath each picture and here.

This was a first for both myself and Ed. He was nosing around one of the barns on some rented property of ours and discovered this chick. He came in yesterday afternoon to let me know about it and I couldn’t wait to get out there today to take pictures of it and the eggs he also found.

I had never seen a vulture baby and was surprised to see they are covered in yellow down and this one is huge! It probably stands at least 18 inches to 2 feet tall and made the most terrifying hissing, roaring or maybe it would be better described as a heavy breathing sound. I don’t have a clue as to how old it is, but I would like to know.

You know vultures are the nastiest of creatures, but necessary to rid the countryside of even nastier decaying creatures. The nesting area for the hatched chick was very vile too. Ed said when he stepped into the room of the barn, the chick promptly lost its dinner and as you can imagine, it was disgusting. Thank goodness for me, I didn’t have to witness a repeat performance.

When we left that barn to head to the other nesting site in an adjacent structure, we scared the setting vulture away. We advanced on into the old barn so I could see the eggs. They are fairly large although they certainly don’t look like it in the photo. I was surprised there wasn’t a nest to speak of. She simply laid the eggs there on the barn flooring. I intend to watch this nest and take more photos if I have the nerve!

First Photo

Second Photo

Third Photo

Fourth Photo

Here’s the video of the chick hissing, roaring, breathing! Isn’t that eerie!

To learn more about the Black Vulture species, read more about them at All About Birds.

There’s no way I thought I would ever see this again!

And why you might ask?

Cause the cows are done with it! It’s been sitting there uneaten for over a week because they had much rather fill up on green grass. Did you hear that? GREEN GRASS, I tell ya! Oh, what a lovely sight!

It has been several years since we had hay left over from winter and even longer that we had to burn what was left in the pasture. We still have hay stacked at three places which is a good thing. I hope we won’t need it until next winter and I’m thinking the way the rain has started falling this year, we won’t!

I recently mentioned sweet Muffin was in a family way again. Today, March 15, 2008, she became Mama Kitty to five young’uns. That makes nine kittens in less than a year! I gave away the two girls from the last litter. Keep your fingers crossed I can find homes for these too. Her first litter had four totally different colored babies. This one has one solid white, one solid yellow, a yellow and white and two black and whites. Want one or even two? I’ll let you take them in about eight weeks… think about it!