Just got back from a nice hike around Lord Hill Park. In a stand of alders
there was this odd call, kind of a drawn out, descending peeeeeek. I
skulked around the edges and found an accipiter (the light was bad so I am
not sure which one) and I thought that it was making the sound....But no,
the sound came lower, in salmonberry. It was such a different sound I was
sure it must be some new bird. Finally , after changing angles several times
I found a gory downy woodpecker. It was quite bloody and its wing was
severely damaged. I figure the accipter must have hit it, and it somehow
managed to crawl into the brush. Once I knew where the call was coming from
it was quite haunting, like a primal scream. The calls got weaker and weaker
and I overcame my urge to charge into the brush and put the bird out of its
misery (It was in very thick brush) and instead I walked away. I began
wondering how often prey birds escape wounded from predators and die later.
It would be easy on this day to hate the hawk, with its impersonal glare,
watching its victim die. But these things are outside the values of humans,
and I guess I was privileged to get a glimpse of that other, wild yet
brutal, world.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
><((((?>`?..?`?..?`?...><((((?>...?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`
?..?`?...><((((?>?.. ><((((?>
?`?..?`?...?..?`><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>..?`?..?`?..
.><((((?>?.. ?`?..?`?....?`?..?`?...><((((?>