Nature Red in Tooth and Claw
My wife and I have been enjoying pastoral idylls in my tiny east end Toronto backyard lately. The squirrels collect peanuts tossed to them, donated by a friend, and the sparrows visit the trees, and both are very chatty. Sparrows seem particularly wild in their vocal self-presentation - which likely led to this poem. We get visits from butterflies, occasional bluejays, etc. I have given up on the hummingbird feeder, having seen one hummingbird in ten years.Today I went out back to do some weeding and one of the squirrels dropped something as it reacted to my sudden appearance. What it had dropped was the corpse of a sparrow. Does change a bit of the image of life in the backyard. The squirrel looked pretty guilty as it lurked nearby and awaited my return into the house. I think it thought its image was better in my eyes if I thought it a vegetarian.
Labels: squirrel sparrow murder carnivorousness
posted by Alan Adamson @ 5:35 PM
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