Here today, gone tomorrow

Here today, gone tomorrow
Originally uploaded by Daniel Greene

My husband Andy found these two baby pigeons in our planter by the front door yesterday. This was not a cause for rejoicing. We have already been conducting a long egg disposal campaign in the backyard palm tree for the past two years (the dogs love to lap up the raw eggs). Just when we thought the egg laying was easing up in the backyard, we see these two ratlets with useless wings in the front. We wondered why they hadn’t been eaten by cats yet. We thought about taking them and putting them in the cat food bowl our neighbor puts out twice a day. That would give the kitties a real feast. But we laughed that off to sick humor and left them alone, hoping the neighborhood cats would finally notice them and eat them. Maybe the cats were waiting for them to fatten up a bit first? We should see…

Well, it doesn’t distress me to tell you that the little vermin were gone in the morning. I guess the cats decided they were finally plump enough. The cats probably already knew they were there, right? I mean, two birds in the bush…

Andy went looking around the yard and found the signs of carnage accounting for one bird. The other, I guess, was hauled away to another cache in the sharp-toothed mouth of a feline filcher.

I guess it just goes to show: here today, gone tomorrow. As much as I may morbidly gloat over Nature’s predation over these creatures, the truth is “you could be hit by a bus” any time so you might as well live, love, and laugh– even if it is sick laughter about poor little baby birds!