Greensboro Birds

File under: Weird Coincidences.
Before Josh and I (and Lucy the cat) moved to North Carolina, we lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on a block of historic brownstones. Between the buildings were these little yards that the owners of said brownstones had access to; lowly tenants were allowed to look but not touch these rare green spaces. We also had a lovely view of the fire escapes across the way.

A trio of female cats owned the territory back there. Every spring one would emerge with a litter of kittens, which we’d watch grow up through the summer as obsessively as we watch for kinglets and red-breasted nuthatches today. Several squirrels lived back there, too, but they were mere serfs to the queenly cats. Our Polish neighbors left plates of leftovers on the fire escape for the cats, but the squirrels frequently snuck up there to grab a little something. Going up was a snap, but coming down—that usually meant encountering a cat or two. Fortunately, the cats were well fed and only toyed with the squirrels, but it’s not as if the squirrels really knew that with any certainty.

Turns out, Josh and I weren’t the only ones watching the drama…

Some months after watching a squirrel make particularly ballsy journey down the fire escape, I randomly found this video on Google. It must have been made by someone living in the building directly south of us and one floor higher. Mind you, I witnessed this exact event and was completely unaware that anyone else was watching. Freaky! New York really is just a little village, isn’t it?