The Tails of Two Kitties

"Look," said Fiona. "What is that in our front yard?"

What indeed thought Spike, peering through the window. His spirit sagged a bit. Since Fiona had joined the household at the age of 5 months, Spike had been the Wise Big Uncle. Hadn't he taught her the fine arts of grooming, polishing her fur and even licking inside her ears and between her toes? Hadn't he coached her on the etiquette of wrestling - when to submit and when to assume power? (Admittedly, this game had changed somewhat as she grew older - and larger!) Hadn't he taught her what was allowed in the house and what was not - and how to get out of trouble if you did what was not?

But now, here he was being asked to tell her what those creatures in the front yard were, and he was mystified. They were like nothing he had seen before.

"Well," he said finally. "They walk on two legs and they appear to have feathers. So I assume that they are some sort of birds."

"Oh," Fiona said dubiously. "But they are so much larger than any birds I have seen. They are quite a lot larger than the Crows."

Spike agreed, noting privately that even if they were birds, he was glad that he was a housecat and not out there confronting these giants. Crows were intimidating enough, even when one was protected by the netting on the cattery out back.

Here is what had the attention of the two tuxedo cats:



There were at least 15 of these wild turkey in the front yard. This is the first year in anyone's memory that they have appeared in our neighborhood. Most likely they have been driven out by the logging on the 80-acre woods behind us. Now they appear somewhat regularly, each time in larger numbers. They seem quite casual about it, strolling down the sidewalks, picking through landscaping, and crossing the streets as though they have done it for years. Nor are they particularly wary, and a patient photographer can easily become part of their ignored landscape by just standing still for a while.


They can still be traffic stoppers, though!