Heh.
Less than ten feet away and on the right side of the driveway is a type of bird Eden --- four bird feeders, two bird baths, bee balm, gardenia, loropetalum, dogwoods, a maple, and barberrys. Birds fly in and out of there like it's Hartsfield International [it will always be Hartsfield to me even though I think it's Maynard Jackson Airport now?], chattering, chirping, calling, circling and diving into the bushes to roost.
Chipmunks, encouraged by the detritus left by birds, scurry neurotically around and add to the nature preserve of the area -- noisy place, I'm telling you. The chipmunks also burrow in the mulch and soil there, and occasionally when I catch them off their guard, they disappear into their holes, dirt flying up behind them, like cartoon characters.
As we stood there, we heard a thump, saw a fluttering of brown and white, a squeak, and then the whipping sound as "it" took off.
N6: Awesome.
Me: What the heck was that?
N6: A hawk. Got his prey.
Me: Argh. Nature Channel. Live. Uncensored. What did it get? A chipmunk?
N6: Nope. Robin. Had just noticed it on the bird bath when the hawk flew in.
Me: Noooooooooooooooooooooo.
N6 said that the hawk hit the bird bath where the robin had landed, took the robin to the ground, and then flew to the other side of the house.
About twenty minutes later, Tallulah, David, and I sat on the back deck. I had been filling David in on the National Geographic moment, and then as if on cue and from the woods that borders our yard, feathers wafted gently down and landed around us.
Tallulah: Somebody got 'em a bird.
Me: Noooooooooo. Say it aint' so.
David: Wished I'd seen it.
Tallulah: Wish I'd done it.
Yesterday, I caught the killer on my cam.
*N6 is Stephen, one of my many nephews. I'm tired of identifying them by name and sibling relation. From now on, they're numbered.
N4 is getting married in two days.
N2 flew in from California today, N1 comes in Thursday from New Orleans, and N3 and N5 live around here. So many 'phews.
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