For this episode of Caturday, I bring you the tale of a cat and a squirrel.
My black cat, Shitaki, has been spending most days outside in the fenced in back yard since spring and the start of warm weather here. She has the general cat hunting instinct, but she's not as good at it as a feral cat. She can catch mice, and the occasional slow chipmunk, but she hasn't figured out grey squirrels yet.
There are a few grey squirrels in the neighborhood, and they sometimes visit the yard because of the bird feeder. They seem to really like the black oil sunflower seeds that I put in the bird feeder.
A few days ago, one incautious grey squirrel was picking up seeds from the ground below the bird feeder and eating them, which got Shitaki's attention. Her hunting instinct kicked in, and she snuck over by the wood pile by the bird feeder to try to sneak up on the squirrel.
I have a live trap for chipmunks by the wood pile. The chippies like to hide under the woodpile, and it's easier to catch them there before they mess with my garden plants. Shitaki was using that for cover while trying to sneak up on the squirrel. You can see the squirrel by the rabbit trap. You can barely see Shitaki hiding in the shade.
Every time the squirrel would look down to grab another seed, Shitaki would slowly move a bit more forward, closer to the squirrel.
She finally got into a position ready for the final charge, with the squirrel not seeing the danger.
Then came the big charge toward the squirrel.
I don't know if the cat didn't get a good hold of the squirrel, or if the squirrel was just faster, but it got away from the cat and ran up the plum tree.
I got lucky to be able to take these pictures, I had to go in the house to get the camera once I realized what was going on. The entire episode took about 3-4 minutes because the cat was being very stealthy. As a local friend said to me about cats and their prey, chipmunks are easy, squirrels are hard...
That's it for this post, I hope you found it interesting!
