Flicker Bash

Today Leela and I were standing in our dining area talking when we heard a bird’s distress call. Just as we turned to look outside — WHAM! It hit the large window next to us with great force and fell. Then immediately after, another bird flew at the window and veered away. It all happened so fast, we couldn’t identify either bird, but we assumed the second was a pursuing hawk. Leela ran down and found a dead flicker in the flower bed below. Bright blood oozed from its head, its neck broken. She put it on display in our Common House, so that others might appreciate its beauty.

These are the same birds that rat-tat-tat with great effect on the metal rain gutters of our buildings during their season of territorial feistiness.