Late this afternoon, five house finch pairs gorged themselves noisily at the feeder. The males fought over the seed and the females, especially two of them who carried on a spectacular fight, flying upwards in a battling spiral till one surrendered. Momentarily. A third male, meanwhile, fed his mate (or was he courting her?) on the post above the feeder or on the perch of the feeder itself.
On the left are the courting or mated female and male, preparing to feed her.
After the noisy quintet flew off, I walked to the post office. Next door, a mother cat watched her four kittens -- a marmalade, two reverse calicos
and one solid black -- frisked about on a front porch, weaving in and out of the rails and into the bushes. When they chased each other toward the upstairs steps, she casually turned from the water bowl, walked toward them, and flopped down in the sun, keeping one ear turned in their direction.
It's been a day for marveling at the strength of the instinct to nurture and protect. Like people, enemies share much more in common than they do differences.
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