The clamor and noise evoked distant childhood memories, of growing up in
rural King County, with several score of domestic chickens in our modest
cedar shake shed. Lots of squawking; must be a dog, or maybe a raccoon, in
the chicken coop. The White Leghorns were always the noisy ones; they would
panic in fright at the mere opening of the shed door. The big Rhode Island
Reds were more subdued, and the 'Banties', well they wouldn't bother to
squawk and panic, they would just fight back.

But this wasn't the mid 1950's, it was now, in suburban King County. Still,
from the noise there must be a dog or a raccoon in the chicken coop. A
distant neighbor still resists urban sprawl by maintaining a small farm,
surrounded now by sprawling Ken Bering style development, and while we have
never met this neighbor, the cheery morning crowing of his roosters
occasionally reaches our home.

Eventually, the noise subsided, and we thought nothing more of it. Then, a
couple of days later, a little cinnamon brown pullet appeared along our
Himalayan Blackberry-lined driveway, and soon discovered the spill-over from
our bird feeders. At first we thought perhaps we should catch the chicken
and return it to its cozy barn, but then we became a bit attached to this
unusual avian fauna. We found ourselves enjoying its visits together with
"our" flock of California Quail and the large flocks of Band-tailed Pigeons
which frequent our feeders.

What is interesting about this rather mundane little story is that the
"clamor" and escape occurred nearly three months ago. This plucky little
pullet, apparently incapable of flight and surrounded with neighborhood dogs
and cats as well as nighttime visiting coyotes and raccoons, has not only
survived but apparently has thrived outside of captivity. Furthermore, we
finally have a bird at our feeders which can stand up to the Gray Squirrels!

Dave Nunnallee
dnun461 at ecy.wa.gov
Issaquah, WA