I have had several experiences concerning birds and my ferrets. We were walking our first ferret, Ferris, on a harness and leash in the park when a "catbird" or mocking bird decided to dive down on him. Swooping close several times, the bird was ignored. On about the fourth dive, Ferris did a sudden twist and grabbed the bird out of the air. We were shocked that the F-Man was so QUICK and had that instinct. We retrieved the bird from the ferret jaws and he flew away with a severely bruised ego. Several years later, we got chickens. I thought I would introduce BART! to our little chickens. Brad held BART! in his arms and I had the chicken in my arms. BART! lunged out of Brad's arms, through the air and latched onto our chick's head. The chicken was bitten but OK. BART! had NEVER been around a bird of any type and didn't even need to sniff the bird to KNOW where he was on the food chain...the TOP. Loki has gotten out of our house and went next door to take on a full grown fighting cock. Both were jumping in the air at each other when we found him! Remember, ferrets are TOP predators in the food chain and they are well aware of what a bird is: food. Lesley [Posted in FML 7189]