contributed by Peter Malik
We all know that nature is not always cute and benign. While direct clashes are not that common in our parts they do happen. So it was earlier this week when I arrived at the house. Upon opening the door I encountered knocked-over lamps, torn clothes, even a chair on its back. All over the floor and furniture were whiteish spots and splashes — some small, some quite big — which were clearly bird poop. Then I saw the door to the fire place open: and since we always close it before leaving it didn’t take a genius to conclude that the avian intruder entered the house via the chimney.
The startling thing was that the carnage was literally in every room, on both floors. As I cleaned, stripped beds and generally started putting things back together I kept thinking: is the bird still somewhere here and alive? Or dead? Unlikely it found a way out via the chimney again … It all felt anxiously exciting and somewhat spooky. Fast forward a couple of hours, no bird found and the house more or less back to normal; and then it occurred to me to look into the basement, the only place I haven’t been yet. Sure enough, there it was: a beautiful, large hawk, lying next to the boiler, interestingly with no signs of any injury.
The coda is disappointing. I took it to the compost, planning to return a bit later to take a picture that I can send to someone better than me at birds. But when I came back I found not a trace. A coyote or some such chanced upon a meal and took it home (the chance the hawk woke up and flew away is remote I think). So I will never know who the visitor was … maybe it’s enough to know that it was one of the faces of nature.