The circle of life

Remember the chipmunks?  These little guys.

We have had two different regular visitors, including the pesky little varmint that eats from our feeder.  In the last couple of weeks we also had a new regular, very small and pale coloured which we took to be a young one.  He's been very cute, coming up and exploring our deck and eating the occasional peanut (unlike the bigger chipmunks, he has to shell them before he can fit them in his mouth).

But this morning there was a cat.  A black cat that has been hanging around.  A few moments before I spotted the cat, I spotted the little chipmunk down by our basement doors.  I guess the cat spotted it too.  It hid in the hollow beneath our basement steps, but I guess it must have incautiously stuck its head out to see if the coast was clear and the cat was waiting and pounced.  Last I saw was a limp little chipmunk being carried away in the cat's jaws.

I feel guilty because I should have thrown something at the cat to scare it away when I saw it prowling.  I will in future.