For the Birds

We have had some fun bird activity in the back yard recently. It surprised the heck our of me when this sharp-shinned hawk landed on my bird bath for a drink. Then he hung out there for awhile checking things out. He came back the next day as well.

sharp-shinned hawk

While typically the goldfinches congregate at my finch feeder, they have found now found our coneflowers. Both the females and the males love to have a snack with those. Hopefully they won't beat the snot out of the flowers as they have done in the past.

goldfinches

Hawk Eyes

Sharp-shinned Hawk

The other day we heard a loud bang on our sliding patio doors, and looked out to see feathers floating to the ground and a smear on the glass. When we walked out back, we saw a hawk up in the tree. We assumed it was the bird that hit the window as he sat very still on the limb. 

After a bit I went outside to wash the window, and I saw a mourning dove next to the patio doors. Its neck was bent at an unnatural angle, and it was not moving. It became clear that this was the bird that had hit the window. We assume the hawk was chasing the dove when the dove flew into the glass when trying to get away.

I asked my husband to dispose of the dead bird, and when he went out to pick it up he was startled by the hawk grabbing the dove off the pavers.  I guess the hawk was surprised as well since he ended up dropping the dove back to the ground. 

I know this is just the circle of life, but all I could think about is that some mourning dove will now be missing its partner since they normally mate for life. That made me a little sad.