Evening Walk

I live in a rural area outside of Hot Springs, on a peninsula in Lake Hamilton, a beautiful Arkansas lake. Every evening, I walk Buddy out to the end of my driveway, pick up the mail from the box, and stroll down the road towards the property at the end of the peninsula. I look through the mail as I walk, check out the birds, any new flowers blooming in the neighboring property, and chat with an occasional neighbor. Buddy runs through the yards and ducks under the fence to some open property facing the lake, where he runs like crazy, checking the trees for squirrels. When we reach the property at the end of the road, I stop while Buddy runs through the gates and looks around to see if their sweet Weimaranar is out in the yard, where he is contained by an electric fence. If he is, there is much sniffing and wagging as they say hello, and then Buddy runs back out to me, we turn, and head for home, The weather has became unbearably hot lately, in the 90s and humid, so these walks occur later and later in the evening.

A family of Mockingbirds has taken up residence in the trees at the end of my driveway, and when Buddy and I pass, they persistently dive bomb him until we get a little ways down the road. They are apparently protecting a nest. They noisily swoop down, taking turns, aiming at the white patch of fur on his butt just under his tail. They come within 4 or 5 inches of poking him, and then they withdraw and swoop away. Buddy is completely nonchalant about these attacks. He either doesn’t notice the birds coming at him, or he chooses to ignore them, and continues to mark his favorite trees and bushes on our route, checking for messages from the other dogs in the neighborhood. I have tried to photograph these hilarious antics, but only have gotten several pictures of Buddy. The birds are too fast for me, or my camera is too slow—it’s an older digital that takes a few seconds to focus before clicking the picture.

How awesome to see how these two species interact, and again, as with the Cardinals, to get to observe the fierce protectiveness these birds demonstrate for their young. After all, if Buddy were a bird dog, a Mockingbird nabbed out of the air would be a merely a small snack before bed. (Fortunately, he is interested only in squirrels and raccoons.) Out of love, we humans risk ourselves for our children and grandchildren with the same recklessness. This too looks a lot like love.