Scaredy Cat

Our family lives in a rural area of Puget Sound, tucked back into the forest. We have fruit- and nut-bearing trees on our property, along with snags for refuge, an ephemeral stream, and a year-round pond for water. I'm proud to say that our property has been designated as a Wildlife Refuge.

We maintain suet and seed feeders in several places throughout the year. And one of them is directly in front of our breakfast nook window.

Why am I telling you this? Well, as a result of the seed feeder in front of breakfast nook, Pumpkin was today introduced to a new bird species. The Evening Grosbeak.

For those of you who are not familiar with this bird, let me begin by saying--it is BIG! Bigger than a robin, bigger than a Stellars Jay. Bigger than a wild pigeon. And, it's "big-ness" is only outweighed by its loudness.

With the heat of late Spring our windows are open (although covered by window screens) and Pumpkin LOVES to sit in the windows, watching birds and butterflies frolic in our backyard. But he had not seen an Evening Grosbeak until today.

It landed and he jumped backwards...about 3 feet. (I didn't know cats could do that).

After regaining his dignity, he v-e-r-y cautiously crept back, placed his front paws on the windowsill and ever-so-carefully peaked up to espy the monster at the seed feeder.