I can appreciate your worries over swooping birds of prey. The trees in my back yard are apparently listed in the Turkey Buzzard Frommer's Guide to Migration on $2.00 a Day. For two days every spring and fall, a little before dusk, the trees become loaded with vultures (so many that once, they broke a pretty stout limb with their combined weight!) Since the back yard is the only place where the fuzzies can roam outside (home is the California desert...), the boys become pretty cranky during migration season. Not that they show any real desire to play in the grass when they hear the buzzards gruggling at them (only time I've ever seen a ferret show common sense!!!). ciao, David M. [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1692]