wolfpangs | Feathered people need not apply.

Tala, like many cats, loves to look out windows. One of my bedroom windows, which are floor-to-nearly-ceiling, is open (because it took me days to pry it so and I'll be damned if we're closing it now) and that's his favorite spot to sit. It's eye level for him and there are bushes in front of the window where birds like to stop. Sometimes when he sits at the window, he chatters at outside animals. You can just barely hear him do it, but I always know because I can see his whiskers twitching. And if you look outside, you can usually see a bird or squirrel out there.

Earlier this morning, I looked over and saw the most remarkable thing. There was a bird right outside the window. It must have been on the sill, because it was right there, looking in the window like a teeny feathered cheeping Tom. (Oh yeah, I intended that.) Tala, also remarkably, was at the window but he was looking to the right and hadn't seen the bird to his left, separated from us by only a screen. Then he turned his head. The following is all true.

Tala turned his head and it took him probably less than a second to register what was happening. Then he shouted "Mrow!" in an indignant tone, before hauling off and kitty-punching the screen in front of the bird's face. I don't know if the bird flew off or if there is an unconscious bird lying in front of my window, but the bird disappeared.

That was not usual. [Below: Would do it again.]