Everything Is Somebody’s Lunch

Soon we will begin to see the arrival of Sharp-shinned Hawks, many of which nested in the Boreal Forests of Canada during the summer. They will share the winter territory with the larger Coopers Hawk, a year round resident. Both prey primarily on other birds and often can be seen hunting near bird feeders. It may be un-nerving to watch this play out in your backyard, but it is a natural predator prey relationship that plays out across all living organisms on the planet. From plants to birds, mammals to reptiles, everything is categorized as a producer, consumer, or decomposer. This is the basis of survival know as the food chain. Removing your backyard bird feeders because a hawk is occasionally collecting a bird will not change nature. These birds of prey will take no more than what they need to survive compared to the millions of tons of meal time leftovers discarded into landfills by humans.