the taunting hummingbird.

The other night we let Rico outside to play. He likes to roam around our apartment but will usually stay within 50 yards and comes back every now and then to check in. Some of the things he likes to do on these escapades is climb trees, follow/annoy the neighborhood cats and dogs, and hunt everything including little flies, leaves, and lizards (he has actually caught and brought all of these things into the house to show off what a good hunter he is). I don't know why he insists on following the dogs because when he gets up to them he puffs up and starts hissing. If you don't like 'em, why do you run up to them?? Well anyway, after he ran up to a little dog that was going on his nightly walk, of course he started hissing and I was right behind him and tried to grab him but he ran up the tree next to him. I wasn't worried, he's climbed trees before and been okay. Well, he kept climbing higher and higher. Jono and I we realized there was a little hummingbird flying around the tree and Rico was trying to get to it. At this point I am hoping Rico is not dumb enough to go jumping out of the tree to try to catch this hummingbird. The little birdy just kept flying around Rico, seriously a foot away from him. You can just tell that the bird was teasing him...and he wouldn't leave! While we were watching him a little boy came up with his mother and said, "Is that a cat in that tree?" We said yes it was. He responded, "Well you better call 9-9-1 so they can come get him down!" He was so cute! His mother corrected him by telling him the correct number was 9-1-1, and reassured him that the little kitty would be ok. It was getting darker and of course Rico's not going to come down when there is a bird flying around him. So Jono and I had to walk away back to our apartment where we watched Rico finally decide to give up on the hummingbird and make his way down the tree. Here is a picture of the event.

As you can see, Rico is in the upper right hand of the picture and the little hummingbird is in the lower left hand. I circled him so you can see him better.