Some foods are just plain messy. Spaghetti? How many people can eat it without getting it on their chin or, dare I say it, the white shirt they should not have worn? Barbecued ribs are the same way. Messy messy messy. Napkins? They definitely help with clean-up...
But what about Meadow Voles? Are they messy to eat?
I would argue "yes."
Yesterday, while out birding, an American Kestrel shot out of a roadside ditch as I headed down the back roads of Monroe County. Obviously carrying a vole, a staple in the diet of many predators, the colorful little falcon parked himself on a utility pole. With no fear of a traffic mishap (I'm in the middle of nowhere), I put the car in park, climbed half way out of the sunroof ,and proceeded to watch him devour his morsel.
Knife? Fork? No need for that stuff. The sharp little beak is all he needed. Standing on the little furball, tiny chunks were ripped off and swallowed. I couldn't help but to chuckle when little tufts of fur drifted off the pole in the breeze. All in all, he did not seem to have a single concern about me. The chunk you see in the photo was the last piece. He ate it whole. I watched him do it.
Before he left the "dinner table", with "sauce" all over his face, he shot me a glance as if to ask a question -
"Excuse me. Do you have a napkin?"
No comments:
Post a Comment