Our dog Summa, a year-old golden retriever, has hunted up a potato bug in the backyard just outside my office window. Trapping the copper-and-black striped insect between her front paws, she gingerly grabs the fat bug with her front teeth and flips it into the air. Upon landing on its back, the six legs of the potato bug work to right itself, only to be pounced upon again by Summa and again flipped into the air.
This scenario continues until a blue jay drops down from the telephone line and swoops across Summa’s back. Forsaking the bug, our young dog barks and chases the jay across the backyard.
From the same telephone line, another jay drops down and lands in front of the hapless potato bug—blocking its escape. The second jay scissors the meaty insect with its beak. The bug’s legs move frantically in all directions at once, but to no avail, as the second jay flies away, presumably to its nest, with their flimflammed meal.
Across the yard, Summa searches the blue sky for first jay, flying away to join its partner-in-crime. Eventually, she saunters back over and sniffs the grass for her purloined, potato bug playmate.
