Danger Lurks

Yesterday morning I took my camera down to the barnyard incase there was anything I should photograph.  I set the camera on the post with my glass of water when I opened the gate.  I proceeded to the coop to let the chickens out.  I opened the front door because the new baby chick ramp gets in the way for Donald.  Donald hopped out and so did Little Mama and one of the chicks.  Then the mama hopped back into the coop and Little Black 1 or 2 flapped it tiny wings and hopped back up.  So cute, and the camera was still on the fence post.  Then I took this.  Not quite as exciting.

 Watching baby chicks is like watching any baby; an hour later you wonder how it got so late.  Now that they are out of the coop, they are all over the place but Little Mama keeps them on the fringe so they are safe.

At the end of the day, when the chickens were in, I was dumping and filling a water bucket in the goose run for the geese.  A small black bird spilled out, drowned.  I didn't know if it was one of the chicks.  They had been in the run earlier in the day so I knew it was a place they went.  They could have hopped up on the rim and fallen in.  They sleep under the mama at night so I couldn't check.  What were the odds that another baby black bird the same size, would end up there?  Something didn't look quite right but I went to bed not sure.  

I was so happy to be greeted by two baby black chicks this morning.  The difference that I was sensing was the chubby legs on a baby chick.  The dead bird had thinner legs.  

But it was some mother's baby, still sad.  How did it end up there?  John and I were talking last night, wondering what feelings animals have for loss.  

Early this morning, John was woken up by something moving furniture on the back deck.  A few minutes later he saw a bear out his window.  By this time, I was awake too and saw the smallish black bear right next to the house.  Funny thing was, John had been up, so he opened the front door to let the cool morning air in.  He jumped up and went to close it.  He has a fear of bears walking into the house.  A little while later,  I saw a hawk glide by the grape arbor.  Bears have a lot to eat right now and soon there will be an abundance of berries.  Do they eat rabbits, I wonder?  Seems like I see new rabbits every week.

We have to trust that all the animals living here know what to do when danger lurks because we sure don't.  Sometime, we yell but I don't know how much that really helps.