This afternoon I was enjoying the sunshine and watching the small finchy birds flitting about in the big coffeeberry bush off our back deck. I call this bush the “conference bush” because every spring the birds congregate in it and chatter to each other like conventioneers. When the bush blooms it becomes populated with foraging honeybees, which add their own buzz to the cacaphony. I had identified lesser goldfinches, juncos, chestnut-backed chickadees, and the impossible-to-distinguish purple/house finches and was watching a male Anna’s hummingbird making his diving displays. I was looking for the female he was displaying to when out of the corner of my eye I saw a brown bird, about the size of a scrub jay, crash into the bush.
All of the little finchy birds fled the bush instantly and the bush became silent. Training my binocs on the locus of the commotion I saw a sharp-shinned hawk perching in the tree.
It was a very handsome bird. It perched and looked around for a few seconds then did a bit of preening. Directly above the hawk’s right shoulder I saw a female finch, perched desperately frozen to her twig. I don’t know why she hadn’t escaped with the others. She was obviously trying her hardest not to be seen, but the writing was on the wall. While I was watching through the binocs the sharpie exploded up and grabbed the finch, then busted out of the bush, carrying its prey out of view. I heard the poor finch squawking for about half a minute before she finally died.
This is definitely the most amazing thing I’ve seen so far this week. Nature, in all her glory, is every bit as unsentimental as she is spectacular. Wow!