These pictures look like the little birds are being attacked by a hawk. Except those little birds look pretty calm.

The attacking bird was a sparrow, the European model imported in the late 1800s. He was hoping to grab some lunch. He is much bigger than the little Goldfinch, but they were not moving. He tried flying at them three or four times and they simply wouldn’t move. He came back later and convinced the doves to give him some room to eat.

The true predator of the day was a neighbor’s cat. I don’t know which neighbor, but this cat was extremely tame. I told her to move on. Like any normal cat, she ignored me. I called the Duke and asked him to bark. He barked. Two barks weren’t enough so I asked him to bark more, which he did. The cat didn’t twitch a whisker.

And finally, photogenic woodpeckers.

Categories: #Birds, #Photography, Anecdote, Goldfinch, Woodpeckers

Tags: #Photography, European Sparrow, Goldfinch, Marilyn Armstrong, red-bellied woodpecker, Woodpecker