some wild things

I don't have any pictures, but have seen wildlife around the yard- mostly birds. A robin was rustling in the large holly shrub for many days in a row, until the cat sat on the railing of the fence it grows against. The robin still comes by, but doesn't hang out in that bush anymore. I saw and heard a pair of cardinals quietly conversing together in the euonymus by the garden, hoped they might build a nest there, but they went elsewhere. The wren is back! (or at least, a wren. "How do you know it's the same one?" my husband says reasonably.) The first day I saw it, the wren was hopping along the deck railing, then it flew to the closed table umbrella and flitted around among the folds. I wonder if it was looking for bugs. I've seen it here and there on the edges of the yard, since. I don't see or hear the mourning doves often, but there's a new bird call I can't identify. I see mockingbirds and jays. I hear the catbirds crying, but don't see them in my yard. Redtail hawks often circle overhead, and sometimes I hear a barred owl calling in the late afternoon- it must have a roost in a tree nearby.

Such a little thing, but I was tickled to see the tiny jumping spider on deck railing by my planter boxes the other day. It turned and turned to face me. Found another one in the garden, on a pole that holds up the pea support. I like the tiny spiders.

A fox has been facing off with our cat. My husband saw it standing in the yard, yipping at our cat who sat on the porch, for long moments late at night. My neighbor saw the fox chase our cat onto the deck, after some yowling and screeching between them. I found feces deposited on one of the stumps in the yard- somehow I suspect the fox did that. Our cat is on the large side- he weighs nearly thirteen pounds- but is also getting older and stiff in the joints. I worry sometimes the fox will hurt him.