Before She Teaches the Kids to Kill

Came home yesterday to find Neighbor Dan and the younger Neighbor Dan Daughter out in the lanai playing with the kittens. I like that it's that kind of neighborhood.

Neighbor Dan has examined the kittens a number of times and concluded we have three girls and a boy. Or maybe four girls. Or maybe not. I say take 'em all to the vet as soon as possible so it won't make any difference.

And take Little Gray Mama, too. She killed a bird a couple of days ago (and has probably killed more but that's the only one I caught her with). I heard several avian complaints from the mango tree and recognized them as anti-cat comments from back when I lived in Connecticut and the neighbor cat would come into my back field whereupon several species of birds including crows, robins, cardinals and a Baltimore oriole would all cooperate, forming a circle around the intruder, just out of reach, moving across the field from bush to branch, always with the cat in the center until she got too frustrated and went home. It wasn't an accident; they did it several times.

Anyway, I went to investigate and found LGM under the mango with a small crow she had just killed and was now trying to eat despite being fed between two and four times a day at our house and who-knows-how-many times again over at Neighbor Dan's where she disappears for hours on end. I took it away from her and gave it a quick burial and she let me know she was not pleased that I would waste a perfectly good bird like that.

Neighbor Dan's Daughters also discovered the partial remains of a couple of lizards in the lanai the day before so the sooner we can get the kids weaned the sooner we can get her fixed as well and maybe then her reign of terror will end.

Meanwhile, Bartleby watches a palmetto bug walk between her paws with total disinterest.

Protocols of the Bath

Doves will congregate around the edge of the birdbath and socialize, although only one will go in the water at a time and the others usually leave for a moment or two. They also drink separately.

Mockingbirds are heavy drinkers and will bob and gulp five, six, seven times before reaching their fill and moving on. They are also delicate bathers preferring to settle into the water and soak for a few moments.

The finches are understandably skittish, given their size, and although we can see a number of them around, will only approach the bath one at a time and then only for a quick sip before flitting.

Blue jays, on the other hand, are exceptionally enthusiastic, jumping into the water, hunkering down and splashing for all they're worth until drenched and dripping they fly off (at a much lower altitude being laden down with all that water). They'll line up in a nearby bush waiting their turn but two's the limit. After that the basin needs refilling.

Robins are dirty birds (what to expect with a name like Turdus migratorius?) and are never (to our experience) found anywhere near water.