Whatbird.com

Sorry for the poor quality.... early morning and overcast.

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

I'll take a stab with Black-Crowned Night Herons.

At the top is a juvenile Black-crowned Night-heron, half way there.

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

The one on the bottom looks like a CAT - am I correct?

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Life List: 164
New this year-to-date: 13
Latest: Red-crowned Parrot

Sadly yes.  Phoenix is the number one city for feral cats.  This picture was taken at the Gilbert Water Ranch Riparian Preserve.  I see cats every time I go there.

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

Yeah, a lot of people still don't get their cats spayed and neutered - I love cats but not stray ones.  However, I think that BCNH can hold up against any cat -- one stab with that bill and it's bye-bye kitty!

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Life List: 164
New this year-to-date: 13
Latest: Red-crowned Parrot

Now that someone has said cat, it's painfully obvious 

Your call on the BCNH was excellent, it was a juve.  With the head markings on the adult wouldn't have been a stretch for the rest.  Posted this picture out of frustration after multiple outings seeing the cats. 

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

Well, I was pretty sure it was a night heron, and most of you western folks seem to post more BCNH's than YCNH's. Plus, it didn't look the same as the YCNH juvie that I once saw, so I went with BCNH.  You can tell from my post that I wasn't extremely confident 

For some reason, I can't see a cat! I do have some advice for the feral cat problem, though. Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah, has some information on its website about trap-neuter-release programs to control feral cat populations. TNR is somewhat controversial but gaining in acceptance, and it can, over time significantly reduce feral colonies. It does take the commitment of a grouop of people - preferably the entire community. If you have questions, I'm sure the folds at Best Friends could answer them for you.

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Amy and Merton of Cat

a young woman in my area started a home shelter mainly for stray dogs but did take kittens till she could get them adopted or the feral cats she had spayed or neutered by local vets who would donate services. She would trap feral cats when asked and would have them neutered and released back where she got them It helped a lot in my area to control the numers of cats.

she married and moved away but we all appreciated her efforts.

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dklucius

Feral cats are a human problem.  Releasing them into the wild (in this refuge) results in an impact on the environment.  I appreciate anyone doing any part of the right thing though.  This is like Chinese water torture, environmental death through one human mistake at a time.

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

I absolutely agree with you, Matt, except that it's not "one human mistake at a time," it's the entire processes of civilization. The farther humans move away from animals - in terms of building societies - the more our lives impact that natural world. At this point, there is no solution. We can try to temper our impact on the environment and make repairs where possible, but the world ecology is both delicate beyond understanding and impaired beyond reconciliation. Even some of our conservation efforts can be damaging in ways that we cannot (or did not) predict. Consider wind farms.

 ... hey, has anyone seen my soap box? .... oh, here it is ...

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Amy and Merton of Cat