Saturday, December 22, 2012

Friday Miscellany-Accipter at Dusk, Quicksilver Eats the Pie and Menaces Squirrel the Kitten, and the Rodentia Squirrels Sit in a Square

 
A blizzard is coming and the smaller birds have been gorging at the feeders until suddenly there isn't a one.  Not at the feeders anyway, but a glance up and there is the Accipter reason.The tail being either damaged or wet doesn't help at all in this case.  But she's near male Red-tail size and I'm going with a Cooper's Hawk. 
She sees me and when I look down and then up again she's gone.  Well gone from my view but not from the smaller birds as night falls without their making a visible return.
The squirrel square.

This is Quicksilver the African Grey's expression when busted for being on the counter, sitting on the edge of the pie plate, eating the pie.

The expression is slightly reminiscent of how a small child with a hand in the cookie appears facially.  It's the "I just might be in trouble" look.

Though as parrots pupils are more telling than children's are, note that his pupils are expanded at the uh-oh moment.

Now to a moment in which Silver sees himself as the disciplinarian.
Quicksilver and Squirrel the Kitten are companionably watching a Cottontail Rabbit from the front window.
Before long, typically, Squirrel looses interest in one thing and decides to investigate something else.  In this case Silver.  Note that Silver's pupil has radically contracted, his posture shifted and his feathers are beginning to stand, at the approach of the cat.
Silver's feathers continue to rise and his neck lengthens and his head lowers.  
 Silver draws a bead on Squirrel's left ear.  I'm about to intervene when Silver, being a parrot, decides on a more amusing tack.
 He opens his beak and lets out a perfect imitation of me saying loudly and with feeling, "NO!"

 Squirrel snaps back on his bottom and stares. 

Beat.
 And a moment later they're both back watching the bunny.

The moral?  A confused cat instinctively doesn't follow through on the initial impulse.   And cats do appear not to like being confused.  

Remember Silver's technique of meowing loudly in Pywacket's fact, at which point she'd run under the table and appear to be confused and thinking it over?

It's the same basic strategy

Donegal Browne 

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