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Sharpie takes Cardinal



I was sitting at my computer peacefully checking out the Bird Banding
Laboratory's website for longevity records, when a great noisy disturbance began
outside the window.  My inside cats (who have a wire-enclosed outside "viewing
area") came tearing in and hid.  I looked in time to see a Sharp-shinned Hawk
pinning a male Cardinal to the ground.  His wings were fluttering mightily, as
was the struggling Cardinal.  Titmice and Chickadees were all alarming.  The
Sharpie was barely able to lift the cardinal from the ground, as he flew away to
the edge of the driveway near a stick rubble pile to eat.  He was pursued by the
din of objecting observers.  I crept out to get a better look with my binocs,
and passed by a feeder with raccoon baffle.  A squirrel shot out from inside the
baffle and streaked by me, further freaking him and me out.  Wow!  Life and
death in my yard.  A very graphic reminder of the realities of longevity in
birds.

Marsha Stephens
Northern Chatham County
stephens@mail.fpg.unc.edu