the bird hunters

bird hunting is a frequent pastime for niko and griffin. as is bird catching. whether its staring at large raptors in the sky or chasing chickadees through the brush, they love the fluttering excitement of the chase...and sometimes the reward of the catch.

i remember their first kill quite clearly, watching griffin as she ran through the middle of a turkey flock and in her extreme excitement grabbed one of the adolescents, shaking it hard. the turkeys were in complete shock, and griffin completely ecstatic. she proceeded to run up to me, turkey hanging limply in mouth, so proud. i proceeded to head to the grocery store to purchase some packaged turkey meat to give to the farmer, secretly kind of proud as well.

this episode was the first of many. there was the young grouse griffin managed to capture during one of our long tree planting days, and then the crow that niko plucked out of the air mid-flight. not to mention the baby robins that matt's mother loved so dearly in their back yard, yet were unfortunately situated in a nest directly over the dog's resting space as they attempted to take their first flight.

the stories go on, and yet, even this morning as niko rustled a small song bird out of it's warm winter hiding spot in the grass, grabbing it gently in his jaws (niko is more about the catch, not so much the kill), i was amazed. amazed that despite their city upbringing and domesticated behaviours, they still possess the instinctual hunting skills that not only allow them to catch field mice and ground squirrels, but also lead them to catch birds, who given the entire sky and remote tree branches they have access to, should not be caught.