By Mary Alice Murphy

I recounted the tale about the hawk and the quail the other day. Although I do not know the outcome, I suspect the hawk won.

A few days later, I heard the sound of what I thought were deer hooves landing on our gravel by the apple tree. The deer can dance on their hind legs while snitching fruit from our trees. As I've said in the past, I figure the bottom third of the fruit is for the deer, the top third is for the birds, and we get the middle third.

The sound surprised me, but what followed brought me out of my chair €”a screaming that was incessant. I still don't know if it was the hawk or its prey, but when I looked out the window and saw the hawk and fur underneath it, my first thought was: "Dang! It's got a fawn."

However when I dashed out to save what I thought was a fawn, the bird flew, and I'm thinking the same bird was the quail chaser, and was probably a Cooper's hawk.

But it was not a fawn. When the bird flew, the cottontail rabbit hopped slowly away to a safe spot under the car. It was a little bloody on its back, but seemed to be able to hop just fine. I saw it later hopping into the tall grass, so I have no idea if it lived for long, but it was alive at last sight.

Being a person who believes that nature has its rules that I shouldn't argue with, I should have let the hawk have the rabbit. After all, it would have fed the hawk, and the bunny wouldn't have ended up smashed on the road by a car, which, of course, does feeds the ravens and vultures.

I ran into our neighbors in the bank this morning. He had his own tale to tell. "Have you ever seen a kestrel grab a hummingbird in the air?" he asked me. I haven't. "I saw a flash next to the hummingbird feeder and a little while later, we saw the kestrel sitting on a branch picking off the feathers."

We decided a hummingbird wasn't a very full meal, but maybe more of a snack.

So the hawks are here. I've seen red-tailed hawks soaring for weeks.

Smaller prey needs to be wary, and don't be surprised if you see the rules of nature at work in your backyard.

May your musings bring you beauty!