A Bird in the Hand, Er... Mouth

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Sam and Cassie enjoy watching the birds in our yard.

Hey Everyone!

I don't have anything much today, but I do have to tell you how Sam brought the bird community down on our heads yesterday morning.

Sam loves birds. He watches them constantly and tries to catch them every chance he gets. In fact, when he has jumped our fence in the past, it has always been in pursuit of a bird. His favorites are robins and mourning doves, mostly because they're big and slow. And at this time of year, Cary and I have to keep a constant vigil for baby robins in the yard, because we don't want Sam to get them.

But yesterday morning, I apparently hadn't had enough coffee, because I let the dogs out before sweeping the yard. Sam darted out and had a ball of feathers sticking out of his mouth before I even realized there was a bird in the yard. But this day, it wasn't a robin, but a young blue jay. Big Mistake! I yelled at him and he dropped it and it flopped toward the house, but not before the adult blue jays were sounding the alarm. They began swooping down at Sam and shreiking a sound that apparently was the universal bird distress signal, because all of the sudden, I had robins and mourning doves and grackles (I think, I didn't get a great look, because I was fearing for my eyes, having seen too many Hitchcock movies!) descending on my yard. Fearing for Sam's safety, I called him back to me and we cowered in the doorway until the commotion subsided. The whole time I'm yelling at him, "Why'd it have to be a blue jay!" I'm sure my neighbors think I'm crazy. I honestly had no idea that birds would cross species lines like that to protect each other. It was definitely an experience I won't forget.

In retrospect, I wonder if I should have let the adult blue jays get Sam a little. Maybe a well placed peck would have detered future escapades!

By the way, I am happy to report that the young blue jay survived and flew away after he shook off the shock Sam's morning breath! :D