Uninvited and Unwelcome

I was sitting here at my computer, writing a letter and looking out the window when I saw it.  A bird about the size of a pigeon flew down and settled on a branch of the big old maple tree in the front yard.  Pigeon?  I don't remember pigeons perching in the tree.  Then I realized that the contours of the bird weren't right for a pigeon.  Wait a minute!  This was no pigeon. It was a hawk!  It was here to choose from my birdy buffet table!  I couldn't sit here and let that happen.

I went out to the porch and looked at it sitting there in the tree.  Sure enough, it was a hawk!  I spoke to it.  I think I said, "What are you doing here in my tree?"  When the first word left my lips, the hawk flew away, fast!  That surprised me because I was nowhere near enough to the hawk to be a threat to it.  It left in the direction it had come from, up the hill.  I went to that end of the porch to try to see where it went but it was long gone.

Before I'd even come back into the house, little birds began twittering from a couple of the bushes in front of the porch.  I told them that they should be quiet because the hawk could get them but they just kept it up.  When I came back into the house and resumed typing my letter, little birds came to the feeder.  There had been no birds at the feeder before the hawk sat in the tree.  Aha!  The little birds knew that the hawk was around, knew that I'd chased the hawk, and were actually being careful to hide from the hawk without needing my warning. 

I know that hawk lives somewhere around here and I know it has to eat, too, but I want my little birds to be safe.
Oh, yes, I must mention that this morning, most of the carrot was eaten.

Posted by: nj on 12/18/2005 9:07:01 AM , 2 comments