Not Today, Buddy!

  Physical therapy in the gardens has to be the best way.  Strengthening those muscles along with fresh air cannot be wrong.  Plus, I get to watch the critters that visit.  Early this morning, I was captivated by a grasshopper, of all things.  While I hoisted weights, the grasshopper basked in the sunshine.  The grasshopper seemed to not have a care in the world and, for a while, I agreed with him.  As far as I could see, the critter was enjoying life to its fullest but that changed within a snap.  Danger lurked in the mimosa tree!  The grasshopper was unaware that he was in a predator's sight.  He lingered on unaware.

 A flash of red told me that my friend, the cardinal, was searching for breakfast.  Each morning, I set out seed for the family of cardinals.  The male always comes first to make sure it is safe before calling his family in to feast.  This morning, however, the cardinal had his eye on the grasshopper!  I was torn between letting the bird catch the insect or helping the bug escape.  Either way, there would be a loser.  Was it to be the bird's breakfast or the bug's life.  Nature will be nature so I refrained from scooting the grasshopper under the ginger plants.  We would just have to see how this played out if I was to be neutral.  "Let nature take its course" has always been a difficult task for me to follow but...I lifted weights and watched.  The drama that was to be never unfolded.  The bird was distracted by another male cardinal and they went chasing each other in a territorial battle.  The grasshopper was safe for the time being.

  It has long been thought by most folks that Northern Cardinals only eat seeds.  Their thick bills do lend themselves to cracking the shells but about 30% of their diet is made up of insects.  They will often take moths, katydids, flies, spiders and, yes, grasshoppers as tasty treats.  In fact, the parent birds feed their nestlings on mostly a diet of insects. So, had it not been distracted, the cardinal would have made short work of my grasshopper friend!