Walking up to the stairs to my front door earlier today, I heard a tremendous
buzzing and flapping coming from the ground under the "dwarf" Alberta Spruce
that has grown up to be Sprucezilla next to the stairs (and WAY too close to
the house for a monster such as it has become...). I paused and peered into the
dense growth, glimpsing a Dog-day Cicada buzzing and flapping in there. Then
I saw that it had company, a Gray Catbird that clearly had mealtime on its
mind.
The catbird was very tentative and the cicada was very noisy and frenetic,
but the bird kept going after it and giving it cautious little pecks. The
cicada
managed to buzz away several feet to beneath an azalea, and then the catbird
became more aggressive in its pecking. Gradually the cicada buzzed and moved
less and less and the pecks were more often followed by swallowings. Eventually
it began to look like an imitation of an inept person trying to pick at a
crab...
When I inspected the area later, the Catbird was back in the low foliage of
Sprucezilla, seemingly hoping another cicada would come along to the same spot.
And in the final dinner area, I found no trace left of the repast. Not even
wings.
Cheers,
Steve Young
Glencarlyn, Arlington
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