- life and death

In addition to our one indoor cat, we have two outdoor cats.  We got Hank and Hunter to be "farm cats", to kill mice, moles, etc...  The one thing we did not plan for was how the two mousers would affect our bird watching.

They do primarily catch mice and the like, but occasionally they will hunt at our bird feeders.  We do our best to chase them away, but inevitably they do grab a bird once in a while.  A couple days ago, I walked in to the garage and found an Oak Titmouse sitting on the floor.  The two cats were only a few feet away keeping a close watch on their captor.  The bird was not dead so I naturally scooped him up and chased the cats away.  Despite any obvious wounds, I could tell that the bird was severely injured.  He was alert, but sat calmly in my hands as I brought him into the house for the family to see.

I planned to shoot the bird and put it out of its misery, but after we all held it, I got a little attached and decided I couldn’t do it.  I placed him in the brooder with our new chickens, hoping he would recover.  It was not to be; I found him dead a few hours later.  It was sad, but I think we were all grateful to hold and pet a beautiful little species that we have admired, but never been able to touch.  Just another life and death experience at Liberty Pastures.