Neighborhood strays

Here in the middle of Des Moines, a stone's throw from the freeway, we occasionally have trouble with strays. I tried to coax an orange tom out of the street this morning; no collar, very thin... but he would have none of it.

This afternoon, however, as I was snapping some pics of flowers, I caught up with some of our more recent neighborhood strays.



Yep, that's right. Chickens. We have a hen who's been caring for her flock of chicks. We're not sure where they actually live, but it appears they just roam around. They're quite wild -- new meaning to "free range" -- and they're very difficult to get a picture of because they scurry and run whenever you're anywhere near. This poor little chickie got separated from its brothers and sisters and was emitting the most panicked peeps I ever heard.

I can't imagine that the orange tom hasn't already taken note of their existence and begun picking them off one by one.