Who needs a dog when you have Super Cat!

Snickers is a fabulous kitty. We adopted her from the Humane Society as a kitten in 2003. Since then she's proven to be a valuable member of the family.

Within her first weeks of being here she proved herself to be an efficient mouser - there was a mouse sitting on the back of my Dad's couch and she made short work of it. She also catches birds, moles and small squirrels and rabbits (okay, the latter two, not so great but it does keep our cat food bill down!)

She's cuddly without being needy but not a snob either. She's very protective - when I was pregnant with Violet she was one of the reasons I took the pregnancy test. She would not leave me alone. Every single time I sat on the couch she was on my like Oprah on a baked ham. She knew I was pregnant before I did.
And when I was pregnant with Connor it was the same - she didn't leave me alone for the entire nine months. And after Connor was born she would curl up on the couch above his head and watch over him....but she never stood on him, lied on him or even licked him. Just sniff would do....she knew he was one of us.

This morning I was laying in bed, listening to Connor talk in his room and wishing for more sleep. My bed faces the window - my window overlooks the backyard, more specifically our fish pond.
Suddenly I see something jump up at the window. I thought I must have imagined it. Then I saw it again. Then I hear a horrible squawking/hissing noise - it sounded like a pissed off raccoon. Then I see a large bird, like a goose, fly past my window.

So, my thoughts are - a goose was injured, landed in our yard and the cat is pissed. It is migrating season for the geese and when one goose is injured or sick another will land with it and stay with it until it either dies or recovers.

So I look out the bedroom window and see Snickers in the garden, looking toward the back door of the house and hunched down. I look toward the house, looking for a goose, a raccoon, anything.

But what I saw was not on the ground, it was on my roof. A Heron. A huge, grey Heron.

Well now I'm excited. We see herons a lot in the marshes but never in our neighbourhoods. Why in the world would a heron be on my roof. There are no marshes even remotely nearby - not with respect to having this type of animal hanging about.

Then it occurs to me.

The pond.

We have 5 large koi and about 8 smaller pond goldfish. A feast for a heron.

So I speculate that this bird lost it's way, flew over our house, noticed the fish and thought hmmm....breakfast.

Snickers, ever vigilant, saw this bird trying to get his fishy buddies (for what it's worth, I don't think the heron would have succeeded, the pond is too deep for the heron to stand in and too narrow for is to fly down to and scoop up a fish) She scared the bird away from the pond, up on to my roof.

I ran into the living room, got my camera and snuck out the patio door in my room. I tippy toed out and tried to snap a picture of it but as soon as the bird saw me it took off. I got two shots but they were both blurry and not even worth saving. Disappointed to say the least but what an exciting start to my day!

Hope yours is just as exciting!