Circle of Life

I am so fortunate to work at home. My office has a window right next to my computer that looks out to the mountain in the backround and directly outside looks to where I feed the birds and bunnies.

As I was pondering what I was going to write for Pictures, Poetry, & Prose this morning, a large Cooper's Hawk landed beneath the red tip bushes.

That area is always teaming with all sorts of birds. I feed them because watching them makes me happy. Must come from all those Disney movies back in the day, right? Remember all those happy, chirpy birds?

The little birds, ever watchful, saw him coming and filled the red tip bushes. I watched the hawk walk around looking up into the bushes, seeing the birds and trying to figure out how to nab one. He was also aware of me looking out the window. I realized I was holding my breath, being as still as those birds in the bushes. Was all I could do to keep from waving my hands or making enough noise to scare the hawk off.

He turned to look at me just before taking off into the air to circle and tip the top of the bush just enough to shake several birds out of it. They were just fast enough this morning to not become his breakfast.

What I've learned since moving to the desert is that this can be a tough place for wildlife to survive. Maybe because there are wide open spaces here and opportunities to see the cycle and circle of life, I have come to respect that I don't decide who gets to eat and who doesn't. But I was quite happy when the hawk flew off to find breakfast somewhere else.