Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Catfight!
I was out in the garden, peacefully trimming some of the flowering shrubs before the next round of rainshowers moved in from the northwest, when I decided to lop back a long row of blood red cardinal shrubs that were hanging over a bed of daylilies and tall Oriental lilies. The lilies were leaning so far to the sun, they looked like they needed a lamp post to hang onto. As I started to trim, grey catbirds exploded out of the hedge, flying at me from every direction, trying to hit me in the head. P.J. the cat, who was watching me, ran for the house, and I heard the distant thump of the cat door as she shot inside. Well, it takes more than a flurry of angry catbirds to scare me (sorry about the low quality of the picture... I don't have a good telephoto lens). It's probably just as well that the sky opened up at that point and rain poured down, sending me inside too, where P.J. was sitting on the couch, watching an old movie with Liz. The catbirds were still in an uproar, and the cardinal that I accidentally flushed the other day from her nest, when we were smelling the honeysuckle, was joining in the scolding. It was quite interesting to see the catbirds in action though, as they would loudly meow at you from a low limb, and if you walked toward them, they would keep leading you off into the brush, away from the nest. So, be kind if you tour our garden this summer and see the lilies leaning, and the daylilies smothered... don't be catty about it. 
// posted by IBOY @ 8:44 AM 
