August 5, 2008

Koko Meets Cicada and Only One Survives to Tell the Tale


May 29th, 2008 Cicada Brood
Originally uploaded by rotcav

Photo is "May 29, 2008, cicada brood" by rotcav, posted on flickr.com.

The cicadas are heavy this year, and Koko appreciates that fact more than I do. I'd noticed him snuffling in the grass prior to crunching down on something edible, but, Koko being a dog, I didn't want to think too much about what he was finding in the grass to eat. Then one day he caught a cicada mid-flight, chomped away, and sauntered on, smiling softly to himself. Yesterday morning he stood on his back legs and leaned into a circle of ornamental grasses, flushing out a morning snack. Whenever we're outside, he inspects shrubs and the ground immediately beneath the shrubs. Apparently he feels about cicadas the way I feel about ice cream, that there's no such thing as too much.

I've never owned a bug-eating dog before, although Brandie, the dog of my daughter's childhoods, was given to standing on a tree stump in the back yard to play catch with the bumblebees circling the butterfly bush. Brandie didn't eat the bumblebees. Rather, she'd catch them in her mouth and hurl them to the ground, one, two, three or more times. As far as I know, she was never stung.

Koko isn't interested in bumblebees, but oh how he loves cicadas. For those who live in a cicada-free zone, the insects are bigger than your thumb, and also crunchy. It sounds like he's eating carrots. Live, buzzing carrots.

And I once thought his eating cat poop was disgusting...

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