Earlier today I was sitting on our indoor stairway. Tawny had come in and I was feeling lazy so I sat down. This seemed weird to Tawny so he flitted about, very undecided about trusting the new me. He went back outside and sat on the banister. I called to him " Tawny! Come!" while proffering worms. well "Tawny" came- but wearing a border collie suit and silly doggy smile. Yup. Muppet came over, turned on his side and put his head in my lap. About this time, Tawny decided for no apparent reason, that if a canine approved of me, he did too! So he came in and landed on the cup I was holding. About 6 inches from an apex predator's mouth. Said predator didn't even bat an eyelash. No response at all to a tasty morsel within striking distance. In fact neither of our dogs shows any interest at all in the Shamas. They just ignore them even when one flies right in front of their face (a behavior I do not recommend but it has happened. Will write more another time about how we got Nani to accept a truce with birds).
Thus the contrast to what happened an hour later was very interesting. And has happened before. We went down to the enclosed lanai (the screen door is left open). As we entered (we being me and Mup) a flapping and a rapid rising of wings as a bird took off from inside Nani's crate to fly out the door. Muppet was in full chase from the moment he saw him. How did he know it was a dove and not a Shama? I asked him and he just looked at me like "Duh! Mom! I know what a Shama looks like! And that was no shama! Geesh!" He really does think I am clueless sometimes.
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