Australian Magpie Playing with Dog

Gosh, I don’t know. Almost a *Hitler* cat. I think the story said it was a stray....just showed up one day.....sweet looking kitt.

**This cat-and-bird duo defies all the odds when it comes to feline-avian relations. After Ann and Wally Collito, a couple from Massachusetts, found a kitten abandoned in their yard, they weren’t sure what to do with it. They were surprised to find, though, that Cassie (what they eventually named the cat) already had a guardian of his own: Moses the crow. The Collitos observed and videotaped the pair over an eight-month period and noticed that Moses was caring for Cassie by feeding the cat worms, leading him to water and playing with him regularly.**
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066018_2066006_2065920,00.html

My wife and I raise and release orphaned wild animals and birds, rehabilitating them back to the wild as they reach adulthood. Hawks, falcons, owls, blackbirds, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, you name it—we've probably raised it.

There are many amazing facets to these creatures; all of them. But the most amazing is that close personal interaction for extended periods of time allow you to learn that each of them has a distinct and unique, highly self-aware personality. The get happy, they get sad, and they are always, always eager to please.

Most are natural comedians with levels of awareness that would leave you stunned. Imagine a young starling (blackbird indigenoues to Japan, now here in the tens-of-millions) that grabs an about-to-be-lit cigarette out of my wife's hand in a blink-quick fly-by, and then flies in tight circles around her shrieking with the cigarette sticking out of it's beak, increasing its gesticulations the louder we laughed at him. Incredible.

These are blackbirds that you see by the dozens. Did you ever imagine that they each had a unique, appreciable personality and ridiculous sense of humor? They do.

Most people never scratch the surface of the wonders that surround them daily in this magnificent Creation.

Happy Thanksgiving.

8^)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.