Sitting on my front porch at 7:30 this morning, sipping my coffee. I notice nature in all it’s drama. Like a nature show, I sit and commentate in my head the events taking place in my yard and in the street.
I see a woodpecker on the bark of the live oak across the street, a rare site in our neighborhood. He is running in short spurts straight up the tree. This is very interesting, but at the corner of my eye I see a black cat slowly make its way out from under the house next door and walk across the yard. When he gets to the sidewalk he crouches down and flattens out, with his body half on the sidewalk and half on the grass.
A morning dove lights in the street. Walking this way and that, searching for whatever morning doves search for. She pecks the street and walks in diagonals toward the curb.
In the mean time all sorts of bird and squirrel chatter going on. A blue jay lands on the branch above the cat’s head and begins to screech. The morning dove takes no notice of this. It was not the che-che-che of the morning dove emergency call, so the Jay’s warning calls did not register in her morning-dove brain. She walks and pecks in diagonals, up onto the curb and into the grass.
The cat’s bright emerald eyes widen. He watches the morning-dove as she absently makes her way closer. His body is completely flat and still, but his tale seems to have a life of it’s own, swirling left to right, and the tip flicking in the opposite direction. His ears twitch and rotate forward and to the side. As the morning-dove pecks her way a little closer the cat raises his haunches ever so slowly. Suddenly the Jay drops out of the tree from the branch above the cat and almost lands on the cat’s head. The cat jumps straight up into the air and swipes at the jay with one paw in a simultaneous reaction. And just as quickly, the jay flaps back up into the tree. In the meantime the morning-dove flew off with calling her che-che-che emergency call as she went.
The cat looking quite dejected, looked up in the tree for a moment, then slowly walked across the grass and disappeared under the house.
Across the street, two sparrows rolled out of the oak tree in a ball of wings and tails angrily chattering. They landed on the street and rolled around for a short while until one finally flew away. I guess the one who stayed got to keep the oak tree.
