Hawk!
Warnings
are shouted.
Bird seeds are served,
but not for me; still,
hunger motivates me.
Unsuspecting songbirds feed,
inadvertently becoming
my prey, providing me with fresh meat.
Yes! Bird feeders — the balance of nature.
*****
Thanks to Linda for her help with etherees, a poetry form I had not yet tried. Any future tips appreciated. Check it out here:
wordsfromanneli 
January 14, 2026 at 12:22 am
Wow! Those are fantastic pictures, Anneli. Yes, everyone has to eat, the hawks and eagles, too. Do you find that the hawks tend to keep the crows and gulls away?
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January 14, 2026 at 6:51 am
I haven’t noticed that, because we don’t get seagulls right in our yard (they stick to open fields (for worms) and the beaches (for scavenging), and the crows come around mainly when the robin babies are out.
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January 14, 2026 at 1:32 pm
The hawks and (especially the eagles – we have a nesting pair near the lake) and eagles here tend to drive out the crows and gulls. Eagles are very territorial but will tolerate the hawks. I’ve seen both hawks and eagles preying on gulls particularly in the winter.
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January 14, 2026 at 1:41 pm
Sounds about right.
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January 14, 2026 at 3:11 am
Dear Anneli
At ours, the hawks keep the number of wood pigeons low.
Great pictures
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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January 14, 2026 at 6:49 am
It’s sad to see that one animal has to die for another to live.
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January 14, 2026 at 7:00 am
Dear Anneli
Eating and being eaten can be seen as life. It’s a pity, but it is like this.
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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January 14, 2026 at 7:32 am
It all depends on whether you want to put a positive spin on it. It could also be seen as death, especially if you ask the little songbirds who fall prey to the hawks. But yes, I agree with you. It’s one of those ugly truths that parents try to avoid letting their children know about. After all, we are basically a death-denying culture.
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January 14, 2026 at 9:05 am
Indeed, we are.
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January 14, 2026 at 4:35 am
Wonderful, Anneli! You’re now the fourth of my readers who’ve given it a go with the etheree form, and you did a great job. Not only did you keep with the form, you turned an all-too-familiar situation into poetry, and provided some great photos as lagniappe!
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January 14, 2026 at 6:49 am
Thanks, Linda. It really helps to have tips from people like you, who are familiar with the poetry forms – just as you gave me some tips about haiku. Much appreciated.
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January 14, 2026 at 5:40 am
Awesome! 🪽
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January 14, 2026 at 6:47 am
Thanks, Michele. Glad you liked it.
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January 14, 2026 at 7:35 am
Very much! Thank you.
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January 14, 2026 at 7:00 am
It looks like a Coopers Hawk, just a guess but a beautiful bird. They are a part of the circle of life.
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January 14, 2026 at 7:29 am
Yes, I think that’s what it is.
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January 14, 2026 at 7:47 am
👍🏻😊
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January 14, 2026 at 7:51 am
I had never thought of bird feeders that way. Hmm… We do have Eagles here. I guess I won’t put up bird feeders!
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January 14, 2026 at 8:00 am
I’ve never had eagles come to the bird feeders. They get enough to eat on the beaches and in the fields and estuaries where they pick off the weaker ducks, but the hawks are the ones that come in for the songbirds. Anyway, in your warm climate you don’t need to put out extra food for the birds.
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January 14, 2026 at 8:02 am
Whew. I’m off the hook.
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January 14, 2026 at 8:02 am
LOL
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January 14, 2026 at 9:05 am
Very nice photos, Anneli. Do many hawks stake out your feeders?
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January 14, 2026 at 1:44 pm
Once in a while we get the same one coming back over and over.
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January 15, 2026 at 3:50 am
It’s sad, but if it didn’t happen, the seed eaters would increase in numbers and eat all the seeds, so no new plants. The herbivores would then die of starvation followed by the predators. And with no new plants, the seed eaters, too, would starve.
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January 15, 2026 at 7:19 am
It truly is a balance. Not always pretty, but that’s how it is. You’ve got it sorted out, Vivienne.
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January 17, 2026 at 10:48 am
Anneli, your poem and photos accurately capture how the chain of life weaves through the tender birds we see nestled around a feeder. Hmm, I wonder how deer feel when they are duped into stopping by a deer feeder full of corn. Being from Montana, we don’t appreciate hunting this way.
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January 17, 2026 at 11:54 am
I know of one fellow in our town who did this (chumming the deer with corn) and I find it despicable. Is it even legal? Awful!!!
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January 17, 2026 at 12:15 pm
Legal in Ohio. Outlawed in Montana. Baiting deer just ain’t hunting, and I’m not even a hunter.
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January 17, 2026 at 1:20 pm
I agree with you. I suppose it depends on how desperate you are, but if anyone is that hungry I’d gladly make them a sandwich.
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January 18, 2026 at 6:22 am
Well said!
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January 18, 2026 at 5:19 pm
Well done on your poem, Anneli.
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January 18, 2026 at 6:01 pm
Thanks, Jennie. I’m having a lot of fun with them.
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January 27, 2026 at 2:05 am
A hungry, pretty visitor sitting in that empty bird bath, makes a very pretty picture.
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January 27, 2026 at 8:23 am
Thanks, Ursula. I think so too.
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