Whodunnit?

Kevin Hernandez - UNT Social Science Major
Today, I visited my spot and observed the residues of a tragedy. Possibly. Littering the ground was an ominous amount of feathers. I found tail feathers, semi-plumage, and down. Upon further inspection, six of the countless were stained with dried blood. The feathers, white with black to grayish tips, indicated a mockingbird, a bird common to North Texas. Reconstructing the scene, it seemed the poor fellow was ambushed (more on this later) and, glass half full, he escaped with his life. 

It’s hard to accurately recreate this crime scene that the authorities would never touch. I had to be detective and I could only reveal so much and most of what I did learn would be informed guesses. Now to place the time of crime, a good relative marker would simply be the foliage. The topmost layer of leaves that the feathers rested on was covering a layer of wet leaves. The last precipitation was at least two days prior, so the crime most likely took place sometime between the February second and today, the fourth. Another rather ambiguous thing to deduce is the actual scene of the crime. Although there was a concentration of feathers in my spot, there was also plenty quite a few yards away. Unfortunately, the wind over the last few days has been erratic with gusts over fourteen mph. So, although the average wind speeds were under four mph, feathers could have been blowing in a NNW or SSE direction away from the original crime scene. Further muddling the case was evidence of our mystery assailant. Riddling the ground around my spot, were holes. Each were roughly the same size and were dug at angles. Now these could be from the murderer trying to bury his victim but more likely, it was just a squirrel. UNT, as we learned today, has a substantial feral cat population. Cats will attack and eat many kinds of small animals including mockingbirds. The urates splattering the yucca indicates a stressed bird. Stalked, an extreme and immediate source of stress for our victim could have been a cat pouncing. Cats being well under twenty pounds and soft pawed would also explain the very minimal evidence of an attacker (in this case, the evidence was actually a lack of). Cats tend to take smaller prey away to a safe place to eat, and some large cats will drag prey into trees. Just on that thought, I turned my attention higher. I noticed a large amount of tiny flying bugs around the tree as well as across the lower lying plants. It was difficult to identify the bugs but I believed them to be common midge. A possible indicator of detrivore activity but there was no smell around the area. It could just be that they were coming out of their dormant state. So, gathering evidence and keeping the countless other scenarios open, including possible involvement of other types of predators or scavengers, here is a dramatization (if you will) of what happened. 


It’s late afternoon, between classes when there is less human activity to dissuade shy cats. Emerging from some bushes along the backside of the Environmental Science Building, the cat tracks a mockingbird across the grass and into the greenery closest to Mulberry St. Instinctively and strategically, the cat positions itself so that the bird’s back is to it. As he gets closer, the bird feeds on the new explosion of midge. As the bird lands, the cat takes the opportunity and pounces. With keen eyes, it senses the movement with its improved peripheral vision, the mockingbird furiously flaps in an effort to escape. The cat catches the tail of the bird in mid-flight in its jaws and one outstretched paw, claws extended, scrapes the mockingbird’s belly and feathers come loose but the mockingbird lives to see another day.