Back Story: Man, dog, cat, bird

Rescue operations were underway on Allen Street, yesterday, when a cat snatched a young cardinal out of the grass and ran off with it in its mouth.

It was fortuitous that Suki was up for a walk down 68 toward the Dollar Store yesterday afternoon. She had already been out for one long walk and a short one. But, she let me know that that's what she wanted. So, I passed up the first five minutes of the second half of the college lacrosse webcast I had been watching to extend our intermission sojourn and let her have her head. About halfway there, she decided she was ready to turn back and head for home. That was okay with me as Colby was leading Middlebury by only a couple goals and I was bracing myself for the second half collapse that I knew would surely happen (Ultimately, Colby needed a period of overtime to pull out the win and be guaranteed a NESCAC playoff spot).

An orange cat was crossing over near the corner of Shawnee just as we turned the corner back onto Allen. Suki hadn't spotted it yet, so I distracted her for a moment - the cat had seen us and I was sure it was going to turn away. But, suddenly it pounced and snatched a small red bird out of the grass and turned and ran with it in its mouth back across Allen and into Karen Brito's yard, from whence it came. Suki had witnessed the kidnapping as well and was ready to give chase.

The dog must have been surprised when, in a complete reversal of my general policy against chasing cats, I said, "Come on, let's go get them!"

Across the street, heading up the sidewalk in our direction, was an elderly woman, and she was really motoring. I judged that we could make it without a confrontation and led Suki into the driveway between our house and Brito's, thinking we could get at the cat from there. But, I was wrong. Although we had managed to get close to it, we were separated by a stand of bamboo and despite my shouts and the dog's barks, that cat could see we were only bluffing.

So, we turned and headed back out onto the sidewalk, just as the walker was coming by. Suki lunged at her with a growl, but I managed to restrain her and let the woman, who said something about how feisty my dog is, pass.

"We're after a cat that snatched a cardinal!" I explained in my best "there's no time lose" tone.

Once she was out of the way, we were able to get to where the cat was by going down Brito's front walk. Suki was remarkably restrained as we reached the scene of the crime and I shouted at the cat, "Drop it!" and let the dog lunge at her, albeit under control of the leash. The cat complied and ran off.

I thought for sure the bird would be dead or mortally maimed. But it was breathing and didn't start flopping around, as I expected it would, when I scooped it up. We have a parrotlet and a lovebird. This little bird, the color of a male cardinal, was no bigger than my house birds. It seems to me that cardinals are much larger. In any event, the dog is used to our birds. So she made no fuss, when I picked it up and carried it across the street and placed it atop a thick evergreen bush, where I thought it would be safe and have a chance to recover. I figured it was in shock and would eventually come out of it. I also wanted it to be near where that cat had snatched it, because in the confusion of the attack, I thought I had seen a female cardinal fly off into a nearby tree. Awhile later, I checked and the bird was gone. It had either fallen, crawled deeper into the thicket, been victimized a second time, or flown off.

Just before dusk, I walked Suki down to the corner of Allen and 68. We turned around and headed back toward home. As we neared Brito's house, I heard the clicking sound of a cardinal in a tall tree across the street. It was the same tree where I thought I had seen the female. Then a small red bird flew from the tree, crossing our path very close to us, and lit in an ivy covered tree on our side. I couldn't get an eye on it, but I could hear it clicking at us.

Was it the same bird? It definitely looked like it. But, I will never know for sure. You take what you can get. A one-goal victory in overtime gets you a mark in the win column just the same.