Outdoors -- on the job

Oh, have we got a mockingbird!
So after one of our torrential downpours, he was patrolling my garden for bugs.
Here comes a squirrel across the walk from my back neighbor's yard.
He realizes the mockingbird is there.
So he pretends to just casually be hunting under the euonymus at the end of my west neighbor's yard.
The mockingbird knows he's there.  He stops hunting and watches a little while.
Then he launches to the top of the fence where he doesn't have the mesh obstructing his view.
The squirrel realizes he's been spotted.
So he races down the rest of the walk and turns west toward a nice, high oak tree, hoping in his squirrelly little heart that the mockingbird won't attack.
Mr. Mocker let him go this one time.
My yard has been nice and squirrel-less since Mr. Mocker took the job.  The only day he was too busy to patrol, I caught the squirrel twice and chased him off.
I've also sprinkled those new sprouts with a tiny bit of cayenne to keep the rabbit away as well as the squirrel.
Support your local mockingbird!

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved