Feeding the Hawk

 Frank and I feed a variety of birds in our back yard.  The other morning as I opened the bedroom blinds I noticed a hawk eating one of those birds.  It made me feel sad.  It is hard to watch the cruelty of Mother Nature.  I know that it is a way of keeping the bird numbers in control, but it is still hard to watch.

The very next morning when I opened our dining room blinds there he was again having breakfast.  It made me realize that I was giving him a gourmet variety of birds.  There are Quail, dove, blackbirds, small birds, and big birds.  I am making the hawk's hunting easy picking.   It made me feel a little sad and I thought maybe I should stop feeding the birds for a while so they won't come to my yard to eat.

I also noticed another smaller hawk coming to have breakfast.  I am thinking the smaller one is a female, and the bigger one is a male.  He must have given her the message "Come with me and I will show you a feast." Well it has been raining cats and dogs the past few days and we haven't been putting seed out for the birds, but we noticed today in the heavy rain the birds still came to feed.  I haven't seen the hawk, but I know he will be back for breakfast, and bringing his friend.  As I watched the smaller hawk, she flew into the air and just missed a dove.  A feather floated down from the sky so I know it was a very close encounter for the dove. 

It is so entertaining to watch the birds come in to feed, and especially the quail after they have hatched out their babies.  They bring them to eat and it is fascinating to see them come into the yard.  The males are very protective of their little ones.  The male is the first one to jump on the fence and gives the signal that it is safe to come into the yard. They run so fast and very seldom fly.   So now I have to make a decision, do I continue to feed the birds or do I stop so the hawk has to work for his food?