This morning I experienced the reality of nature.
As I was having my morning coffee, I heard birds in the backyard. JB just filled all the bird feeders, so what I thought I was hearing was just lots of birds. I listened.
Then the sound was more like a cry or a scream.
I went around to the kitchen and peered out. It looked like something was all into it with a blue jay. Thomas (the 20 pound cat) was sleeping in the chair. Obviously, not guilty.
I looked once more. It looked like a squirrel. But squirrels don't attack blue jays...
So I went for the binoculars.
It was a bird! By the time I roused JB, I was horrified. He tapped on the patio doors and off it flew, still holding fast to the blue jay. Like the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz, it had its prey dangling from its feet as it flew off.
It was hawk! Add that was when I learned about the feeding patterns of hawks.
What I witnessed in the backyard, plus what I learned about hawks from JB, is more like a real life horror movie. Selective pressure, I guess. It's like what Dr. Biology has said about the stronger weeding out the weaker. Not a pretty site, I tell you. Not pretty at all.
It's like the gun shots I hear in the early morning. I know its insane, but I wince every time I hear a shot. I immediately think about all those deer that have taken over my yard. I think about how awful it must be for them to be hunted.
And that's when I wish I could put up a wall all around the property line to provide a safe haven.
(I spoke to Momo earlier today on the telephone, and told her of the incident with the hawk and the blue jay. She assured me it was okay... because blue jays were overbearing birds and needed to be taken down a notch or two.)
