It makes me laugh every time - our 4 adopted stray cats are all very scared of birds. And, being Thai cats, they have soooo many critters at ground level all year round - snakes, lizards galore, frogs, huge centipedes, more snakes, geckos and the occasional ricefield rat - that the idea of catching a bird is almost absurd cos it's so hard to do!! We have a huge old Thai garden filled with fruit trees and most days there are at least 50 birds in the various trees chowing down on Jamaican cherries or mulberries, grooming themselves in the birdbath near the front door and just generally hanging in the few nests right under the eaves of our 2 story house.
And so I LAUGHED when our smallest little ginger girl cat, Cinnamon, wandered into one of the downstairs living rooms with a bird in her mouth. She stood there looking pitifully at me as if to say, "Now what, mom?"
And so I thanked her for bringing me a new friend, carefully released the bird from her mouth and pushed Miss Cinnamon gently behind a closed door with my other hand so the bird could recover from the shock.
It was clearly shocked, but there was no sign of injury and it had lost very, very few feathers.
What was so absolutely amazing to me is that our cat had no hunter instinct showing beyond wanting to bring me a present. She relinquished the bird to me quite happily and had clearly not used her teeth or harmed the bird in any way.
And so I held and simply sat with the bird for a bit, and it didn't struggle at all. It was so wonderfully calm.
I smoothed and soothed its ruffled feathers, stroked it, crooned to it, and sent it a little healing Reiki energy to counteract the shock it had experienced.
And so we just sat. For about half an our together, calmly. Amazing nature.
I wanted it to return to the other birds as soon as I was sure it was calmed and able to use its wings normally. And so after a half hour or so I took it outside and put it in the fork of one of the mango trees near the back door.
It sat for a few moments, a little unsure and needing to get its bearings. And so I quietly tiptoed back into the house to put the kettle on. By the time my coffee was ready and I went back to check, it had flown away.
So happy our cats have such a healthy respect for our birdie friends, and that nature can be - IS - amazing. The lion can lay down with the lamb and a well fed, well loved cat simply brings the bird from residual instinct rather than a need to kill or play with it for sport.
I let Cinnamon out of her temporary jail and she looked quite relieved the bird was gone. She sniffed at the few feathers on the floor, looked cautiously around and then sauntered back outside into the sunshine.
The little bird is out there, flying free.
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