Morning Visitor

Blackie

This is a neighborhood cat who has decided my yard is the place to be for bird watching. I love to watch my birds, too. Although, I am sure I will not partake of a juicy morsel of fallen baby birds as Blackie will do at the earliest opportunity.

She visits while I drink my coffee on the front steps, winding her sleek self around my legs and voicing her approval of my presence. She has green eyes that notice the mockingbirds have built a nest in my camellia. She hears the parent birds flutter in and out as they feed their babies. The mockingbirds fuss at Blackie; but, she doesn't mind. She will wait for her perfect opportunity to strike.

I love watching the birds and will be saddened by the clump of feathers I am sure to find one day when Blackie finally is served her delicacy. However, I know that it's normal for the cat to eat the birds. She doesn't eat all the birds; probably, just one or two. As Mufasa tells Simba in The Lion King, "It's the circle of life."

I say all of this because as I sit and watch the animals of the morning, I see no protest signs from the mockingbirds to disembowel the cat for her heinous act of violence. I don't see the squirrels finding lawyers to sue the tree that allowed a limb to break as they were reaching for the seed on the tiniest of branches. The critters don't even object more than a couple of squawks and chatterings  to my presence.

Maybe, we humans should take note of how the animals do. Maybe, instead of making a huge fuss over what outlandish thing we perceive our neighbor to be doing, we should just mind our own business.