birds cats and squirrels.

I've had a few birds slam into my balcony windows.  Thunk.  What the hell was that?  And then there is a bird lying on the floor of the balcony.   They look dead, but then they begin stirring and in maybe half an hour they have flown away.  Once I had my door propped open and a bird flew into my house.  I knew I had a killer inside so I rushed to get the bird out before she noticed, so I tried to not to rouse her, but you know birds, even though the door and freedom are right there, they fly everywhere but out and eventually the ruckus roused Annie and she plucked him right away, but fortunately I was able to get him out of her mouth before she delivered the fatal blow.  There is no other feeling quite so inspiring as walking out onto the balcony with a bird cradled in your hands and opening your grip and watching the bird fly off into the sky.  Born free.

She sometimes caught a bird on the balcony and I was usually able to rescue it.  Except for one time and that bird is buried in one of my pots.   

Way back in my hippie days we were smoking dope in my room when in came Mother cat with a bird in her mouth.  She was bringing it into my room because her brood of kittens were there and she wanted to display proper cat behavior for them and they seemed quite eager to learn.  My first instinct was of course to rescue the bird, but important life lessons were going on and who were we humans to interfere with that?  We took our joint outside into the back yard and finished it there, while she and her brood finished the bird.

My killer cat, Annie, had obviously learned her lesson from her mommie, but my current cats have not apparently gotten the lesson, because although they show great interest in the feathered friends who visitthe balcony, they stop short of pouncing.

Birders don't like cats, and gardeners whose gardens are not safely on the 21st floor, don't like squirrels, or rabbits either.  When I was in Champaign this weekend I stayed with a friend who has a very large garden and a nice screened in porch, but every so often our discussion was interrupted by her running outside to chase away the squirrels who were attempting to filch from her birdfeeders.  She knew it was futile but she just hates them, hates them so much.