As always, a great post, this time with vignettes of great simplicity and depth.
I'm all for full disclosure with kids, except on some probably too private and sensitive issues, but from my experience, kids are clever enough to get as much as their particular intelligences allow them to.
If they can't get it at a given time, we wait until they seem to be ready, but I am against shielding them from the facts of life and some of those facts are as simple as the bird and the cat.
Incidentally, my cat ate a bird yesterday and the "funny" thing is that the neighbors, the same of the mango tree i've been writing about, were shocked, as if they really care about anyone but themselves. All of a sudden they want to contest nature's food chain.
Some things are just the way they are. Darwin is more current than ever.