Lola's near misses for the day:
One mouse
One blackbird fledgling
On bluejay fledgling
Frank Shorter's cat. Right in front of Frank Shorter.
O.k., the cat was from the other day but the other 3 were all in the space of this morning. And I'm not sure if the mouse was a miss for sure. It ran away and I didn't see blood but it was hidden in the grass. I'm also assuming the birds are o.k. She was on a leash when she went for Frank Shorter's cat or I'm not sure if it would have been o.k.
I was preoccupied with brushing Cody when I heard an odd animal noise coming from the corner of the yard. A split second later the Trouble Twins went flying by in a blur of fur. Then I heard the all too familiar squeal of a tiny animal in Lola's clutches. I ran to the back of the yard just as the two of them were flushing out a fledgling bluejay. Somehow amidst the ensuing melee of flapping wings and squawking of baby and mother and Lola I managed to shoo the naughty dogs into the house. I went back out to survey the carnage and couldn't find anything so took that as a good sign. However I couldn't see an escape route for the baby bird and wanted to be sure it wasn't hiding in some tall weeds waiting to be a Lola snack the next time I let her out so I bent down to inspect the ground and when I looked up I was face to face with the bluejay fledgling. Then quickly realized there was a blackbird fledgling clinging to the same fence panel.
I'd already had a run in with the blackbird fledgling yesterday. I guess there's a reason you don't hear about many baby birds joining Mensa.
They're not terribly attractive either. Kind of give me the creeps.
Meanwhile Lola was going off her head inside the house which of course sent Strummer off his head. Cody's such a good boy through the whole thing, standing outside at the back door wondering when he's going to get his Special Treat for letting me brush him, completely uninterested in baby bird carnage or any other Trouble Twin mayhem.
Anybody want to start an internet pool on how long those baby birds last? My guess is first thing tomorrow morning when I let the dogs out because that's when I'll be sleepy and forget all about them.
In the meantime I'm going to a 4th of July barbecue instead of an agility trial like a normal person for once. Well, if you count as normal a barbecue where you start out with a 2 hour mountain bike ride on ridiculously steep and technical terrain followed by a swim in a 'refreshing' recently thawed mountain lake. Without a wetsuit. Actually I'm skipping the bike ride and we'll see about the swimming when I get up there. In the meantime I'm happy to go up high to the mountains and escape the heat of town. And the chaos of Lola v. Baby Birds.
Happy 4th to all and don't forget the Thundershirts and melatonin.
I'm happy that we have a ban on firework sales in El Paso county this year. Not pleased about how dry everything is, but at least we don't have to hear the fireworks.
ReplyDeleteSkye found one of those young birds on the ground the other day and it ran through the fence so he couldnt get it, though I am pretty sure it was testing its survival skills and probably wont make it.
Fireworks are illegal in Boulder but that doesn't stop people. It's not typically that bad in my neighborhood and last night was pretty quiet but noisy enough that Lola wouldn't go in the yard before bedtime then pooped in the living room at some wee hour of the morning. I love trying to figure out the carpet cleaner at 3 a.m. At least Strummer was calm enough between the melatonin and his Thundershirt.
ReplyDeleteMourning doves keep raising their babies in my back yard although I can't imagine that many of them survive fledging with my dogs unsupervised out there.
ReplyDeleteBoy, bluejay fledges are ugly, aren't they! I'd have never guessed jay. But at least they're well camouflaged with that coloring. Maybe that will save them from maurading bored agility beasts if they hold still.
Good boy Cody!
ReplyDeleteLola is a much better hunter than Lucy. A few summers ago I was walking her in a grassy field -- she got all excited about something, sniffing all around... Next thing I know, a little baby groundhog ran right underneath her while she was busy sniffing -- she never did see the groundhog.
Hope those baby birds make it. I wouldn't put my money on it, though!