At lunch the other day, my friend, Linda, mentioned that all the little birds that loved her backyard no longer come to that lovely oasis. She wondered if their bigger, raucous cousins, the crows, who now populate the yard, drove them away. I wondered, too.
Back at home, with Linda’s observation fresh in my mind, I noticed our bird feeder was completely full. I asked Mark, who’s full time job involves keeping the wild birds fed, when he last filled it. He couldn’t remember, but it hadn’t been recently.
We realized neither of us had seen birds at the feeder for days, if not weeks. I kept track over the next week and saw no nuthatches. No chickadees. No goldfinches. No Steller's jays. Just a couple of red-headed wrens who pecked at the tube once or twice before darting away.
I sat on the deck one morning, listening to the birds singing in the trees. There were multitudes it seemed. Why were they avoiding our free food? Make no mistake - we have primo stuff on offer - loaded with sweet smelling sunflower seeds and nuts.
As I listened to the birds, a hawk flew right in front of me. It landed on the fence and started squawking. Another hawk soared through the yard and landed on our neighbor’s tree. It called to the first one who replied in kind. They flew away a few minutes later.
I went inside, hoping that the empty yard would bring the little songbirds back. No joy - they were happy to stay hidden in the lush trees.
The following week, Mark and I went out to the driveway to say goodbye to Corrie, our youngest daughter, and her daughter, Thalia. A hawk scolded us again, this time from our neighbor’s ash tree. Trapped under its talons, we could see something golden.
My stomach dropped to my toes. Was that my new baby chicken? The one Katie, my daughter-in-law, named Ginger? It seemed to be about the right color. Corrie snapped the accompanying picture, but we couldn’t figure out what it was. Panicking, we ran to the backyard to count our chickens.
We found the big girls right away. Rosemary, Willie, and Waddles hunted unconcernedly for bugs on the lawn. The smaller pullets, though, weren’t easy to spot. Thalia finally found all three little peepers, Ginger, Mary Ann, and Oreo, huddled under the deck.
I glanced over at our ever-full feeder. I knew then that the songbirds rightly figured our feeder was a trap. They were too smart to become a tasty dish on the hawk buffet.
We still haven't figured out what the hawk had in the tree. Our granddaughter's partner suggested it looked like a full rotisserie chicken. Maybe the hawks shop at Costco, too?
I’m proud our yard attracts all this wildlife. Hawks are cool birds, too, all things considered. Now, if they’d just go after the critters that scare me, like snakes, the world would be as right as it could be.
No segue, but here’s an update on my writings: I’m crafting and submitting personal essays to literary journals. I’ll let you know if I am accepted by any of them. My mystery novel still calls, but it is on the backburner for now.
I am eager to go back to it as soon as I finish up the project on the front burner - a collection of short stories, “fanfiction”, about women in the bible, who are almost always one-dimensional and often not named. I’m about halfway through, although more women keep showing up and, in my heart, I know
I have to write about them. This project is fun; I love researching, and thinking about what might have happened in their lives.
Is there a woman from the Bible who you think deserves to be thought of as a person in her own right? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email.
If you have any ideas on how to encourage hawks to crave sunflower seeds, or snakes, instead of songbirds, send those along, too!
One last note: Coloradans, please vote in the June 25 primary. Primaries are where you start to make sure your values are represented in government. Lots of our values are at stake this election year. Find information on candidates in your races at Vote411.org.
Thanks for reading all this, dear ones! Stay cool and enjoy June - the best month!
Photo Credit: Corrie Hopler
Hi! This is Mark. I just wanted to point out that one of our hens, LaVerne, didn't make the list and is mad as a wet hen (i.e., not at all) about it. Though, either LaVerne, or, more likely, Waddles, is pretty much always sitting in the nesting box. Also, Jorie and I aren't in agreement about the name of pullet number2, "Mary Ann." She's actually the first to have a (provisional) name, which was Scout. Mary Ann is too close to Rosemary for me, as I'm easily confused.