Eye for Drama

[akirlu]

A flash of movement on the sidewalk caught my eye as I crested the hillock by Kane. One of the ubiquitous gray squirrels swarming a zigzag accross the sidewalk, oversized crust of bread clamped in her jaws. Just now we seem overrun with squirrels; the autumn brings them out to hunt chestnuts and acorns in the duff. But this one had an entourage -- one of the big glaucous gulls that squeal from the rooftops and haunt the picnic tables of campus. The gull was giving chase: hopping and gliding just behind the squirrel and making determined stabs for the bread crust. Then a second gull glided in to menace from the other side, and the whole dodging, stabbing, glide-hopping trio proceeded off stage left where the squirrel made the peace and safety of a nearby spruce to enjoy her spoils while the gulls sat below, peering after. I've watched birds try to steal food from each other -- contests of will and bluff among and between gulls and crows, for instance -- but this was the first time I had seen them go after a mammal. Still, the real question coming out of this miniature Mutual of Omaha moment is, why am I the only one who stops to watch it?

Comments

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I don't know why you're the only one who stops to watch; I'd have watched it if I'd been there. I'm reminded of the time I sat fascinated for half an hour watching a couple of male pigeons competing for the favors of a lady who was completely ignoring them. In the parking lot at Jack in the Box. Nobody but me watching either. Maybe we're meant to be writers -- that observational thing.

As you know, Bob, our house is surrounded by large trees and we have a plethora of squirrels which I can watch without even leaving my chair. The cats like it too.


MKK

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

You always need that person to catch your eye. One of my favorite Mutual of Omaha moments in recent years was shopping at Fred Meyer in Ballard this summer. The sparrows in the rafters seemed more numerous and louder than usual. As I went up the rice and spaghetti aisle, I noticed some spilled rice on the floor, and a sparrow scavenging the rice. I watched it for a minute, and then it flew away. As it did, I caught the eye of another shopper. He said, "Excuse me. Did I just see a small bird fly up from the floor of the supermarket?" I stamped his picture of reality with my validation stamp, we laughed, we went on.

[jerrykaufman.livejournal.com]

When we were at the zoo recently, we watched crows stealing meat from a tiger. The tiger was across the enclosure and not very concerned.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

A belated happy birthday, btw. Speaking of zoos reminds me, the best co-habitation choice I've seen in a while is the Point Defiance zoo's choice of keeping their asian river otters in with their siamangs. The two species, both of a playful temperament anyway, actually engage in play behavior with each other as well as among themselves. Very cool.

[jerrykaufman.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Point Defiance is spiff, alright. We went last year for the first time, and met both a kookaburra and a porcupine out for walkies with zoo workers. (Well, I guess the kook wasn't actually walking.)

[numbat.livejournal.com]

Interesting concept but I don't think I fancy being the keeper who has to keep that enclosure clean. If their oriental small-clawed otters are anything like the ones I know it will be a fiddly process because the otters will almost certainly be protective of their territory and they have an impressive set of teeth. As a keeper I know likes to say, 'it's the cute ones you have to be careful of'.

[shikzoid.livejournal.com]

I mentioned to my neighbor that this has been a bad year for tomatoes. He told me that the reason I've harvested so few is that the squirrels pick them in the morning, the opossums show up at sunset and the raccoons clean up around ten in the evening. He likes having an office in his house with a view of my garden. The hours, however, aren't so great.

[numbat.livejournal.com]

People are simply not observant. Really not, to an amazing degree. I wonder if this if this is a side-effect of self-imposed conditioning designed to screen out advertising? It has to be somethign like that because I can't imagine we've lived in cities as a species long enough to lose all out hunting skills.