most of the time it is a bunny, a robin. never before had i seen a near relative being on the menu as the main course. bright bold yellow tail feathers tipped in black, the belly grey with black pokey spots, it looked like the meal and diner were cousins.
when my hubby called from work i told him of our visitor and how i would love to have the yellow tail feathers tipped in black to incorporate into some collage art possibly.
today when my dear sweet hubby arrived home from work he sloshed through our horribly muddy-from-the-snow-melting backyard to retrieve the feathers for me because i so desired them and he so desires to make my wishes come true, i am truly a very lucky girl. while gathering them up i questioned from the door if there were any of the beautiful pokey spotted belly feathers left behind, to which he replied no. as he headed back to the door, hands full of what had once clothed a beautiful creature that was gifted with flight from God Himself, i grabbed a pie plate for him to place them in.
as i looked through the feathers i saw a lump and i quickly pulled back and told my husband he must has picked up a part of the meal along with the feathers. he picked up the mysterious lump and with a smile that read as pride he showed me the head of the former possessor of the beautiful feathers. i shivered, backed away and gagged. once over the gore of it all, and believe me it is g--r--o--s--s. horror movie gross, blech, i looked at him and exclaimed 'just like that artist who used bird heads in her reliquaries!' and my hubby said that is why i brought it to you.
months and months ago i showed my hubby a picture of a bird head in a reliquary and i found myself in awe with this piece of art. it was icky but beautiful at the same time. the bird head had been prepared by a taxidermist. i quickly thought out loud that maybe i could check with local taxidermists to see how much it would cost to have the head preserved....but that really is not in our budget at this exact moment and i am sure we need to work quickly. i decided the next best thing would be to have the skull of this bird. the hubs has a friend that prepares skulls, hoping monday we will know what to do. in the mean time the head is back in the backyard and the feathers are in a baggie in the freezer just in case there are any mites. the freezer with kill them.
i recorded part of the incident on my camera. one moment i find myself saddened and the loss of life and thankful that when i purchase meat it has been prepared for me and wrapped up and packaged neatly and that i do not have to pluck and pick.....i would become a vegetarian if i had to do it myself. another moment i found i could not stop watching this beautiful bird of prey doing what it needs to do to survive. like when you are watching a documentary and you are rooting for the gazelle that is running from the lion, mad at the lion when she catches the poor gazelle and then forgiving the lion once you see her bringing her catch to feed her babies. the cycle of life and death, survival, amazes me. being an observer is just as facinating at a participant in life. people watching at the mall or shopping at the mall, not sure which is my favorite.
as soon as i have created art using what my sweet, sweet guy brought to me i will post it here.
ok, so just a warning for the not so nature embracing folk that may wander here, there is no blood or gore but this video does show a bird of prey preparing its meal.
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