esrosedotblog

HAWKS AND DOVES

We usually have some doves around the house. They reproduce rapidly.

But, there are never enough to go around.

The most we ever see is a couple on each of the four sides of the house, but this is rare.

The reason?

Easy enough.

An anecdote.

Yesterday while I was typing and John was in the dining room, having breakfast, there was a popping sound along with a shadow that went over the sky.

A hawk!

Grey feathers rained down.

A dove! Well, what was left of the dove.

Now there is one less couple on that side of the house.

I am not even sure that there was a couple before the hawk hit.

The front yard couple had been a threesome for a week or so. Not that the third was welcomed by the other two.

Maybe s/he gave up its life so the others might live.

In any case, Hawks 1, Doves 0.

Well, that is just yesterday. We have been here for almost ten years and there have been many such incidents; we have seen 5 or 6. Multiply that by ten.

We have never yet seen a dove attack a hawk let alone fly away with it.

Doves 0, Hawks 60 and counting.

Doves = Hawkfood. The cycle of life.