There's a killer on Clay Hill Road. According to Peterson's "A Field Guild to Birds" the identity of the killer is an immature Cooper's Hawk (not to be confused with the Sharp Skinned hawk who has a notched tail). Anyway, about a month ago, I noticed the birds often getting into a tizzy, blue jays screaming, birds frozen in position on the feeders. Then I saw the reason - the above named hawk. At first he would just sit in the apple treee looking at the bird feeder. "He's a young hawk", Timmy explained, "he's just learning to hunt." He boldly set up a surveillance system, one time even calmly sitting on our deck's rail, right outside our window, head turning almost completely around as he watched his prey innocently eating at the feeders.

Then, he put his information to use. He doesn't fly down and grab the victim like most hawks I've seen, he chases them into the window, knocking them to the ground, and then he just picks them up and flys away with the poor stunned creature. Today, he got a mourning dove. She flew into the window, leaving that smudge imprint of herself, a little bird poop, and he picked her up as all the birds screamed in terror. I flung upon the deck door, screaming at the hawk, "Bird Killer, you're a Bird Killer", which jolted a memory of Maria in my head.

Maria was caretaker for Aunt Lillian in her dying months, actual years. Others had gone before, and now it was up to Maria to help Aunt Lillian with her daily living, doctor appointments, various medical procedures, visiting nurses - everything an elderly person that lives alone needs. One day Aunt Lillian was in an especially foul mood. Maria tried to joke her out of it, but there was no chance. Looking out the window, Ria said, "Oh, Aunt Lillian, your mail just came. I'll go get it for you." Getting mail was an event that usually cheered Aunt Lillian up, but today Ria saw that it was going to be a challenge. Ria selected a red envelope from the pile of mail, looked at the Christmas stamp, and said, "Aunt Lillian, I think you just got your first Christmas card." Aunt Lillian just muttered and looked the other way. "Do you want me to open it for you?" Ria cheerfully asked, and Aunt Lillian just waved her hand, like "whatever". Ria opened the envelope.."It IS a Christmas card, a family picture card, with two boys, twins, wearing suits and big owl glasses, with a proud mother in the center." Aunt Lillian snapped to attention. "Let me see that card", she demanded, and when Ria handed it to her she screamed, "Dog Killers. They're the ones that killed Spotty. Damn Dog Killers", and she threw the card down in disgust.

Now Spotty had never been a favorite of mine. When Atticus was not even two, Spotty jumped off of Aunt Lillian's lap, and bit Atticus right under the eye, one of the worse scenes I have ever experienced. We knew Spotty had died, just before Maria became caretaker, but we never knew why, just thought of old age. When Ria told me about Aunt Lillian, and the Christmas card and the twin boys wearing glasses, we tried to figure out how they killed Spotty. "Maybe Spotty had a heart attack thinking about biting TWO boys at once", was one suggestion. "Maybe Spotty had a stoke thinking he was seeing double, looking at the twins", was another. We got laughing at the thought of Spotty getting so excited he just keeled over, and for days, Ria and I only had to say Dog Killer and we would go off laughing.

So now I have to figure a way to get those killer twins up here. Or maybe I could put out a whole bunch of stuffed birds that wouldn't fly into the window at the sight of the hawk. I'll have to come up with something soon because I can't stand the sound of birds slamming into the windows all day.