Heartbroken

  The songbirds here on the Bayou have been having a most terrible time this spring.  What with a Screech Owl and two Rat Snakes raiding the nests of the little ones, Crows and squirrels snatching eggs as soon as they are laid and now the Cooper's Hawk murdering the adult birds, things are not looking good.  This evening just before dark, I heard a familiar sort of "clucking" noise.  Hmmm?  Where had I heard that before?  Then it dawned on me.  The Cooper's Hawk was in the yard again.  Oh, geez!  I have taken down the bird feeders for this very reason. This hawk is great at staking out a place near the feeders and then attacking when the songbirds come to feed.  But the feeders are down...and have been for some time now.  Why is the hawk still here?  I figure that it has a nest nearby and needs food for its little ones and one of my fat Mourning Doves fit the bill readily.

  I headed outside to see if I could prevent at least one murder of the slow-moving doves.  Perhaps my presence would make the hawk move to other parts.  It did not happen as planned.  Just as I stepped out the gate, I heard the soft twittering of a dove's wings as it rose from the far end of the rose garden.  Before I could even take two steps, a flash of wings and the dove was in the clutches of the hawk.  I wish I had not seen that.

  Even though I was too late, I still meandered over to where the cruel deed had been done.  A single feather floated softly down from above. My poor dove.  It seems as if the predators are winning this year and there is nothing that I can do to change that fact.  I guess I should be happy that the little ones of the predators are well fed.........I guess.  I do like the hawks.  I just do not like them eating my songbirds!