(This post is not meant to vent my frustration an a personal/legal issue, but more to point out my birding observations regarding it. Please accept my apologies in advance, if it in any way breaks with listing rules)
Right outside our back door, just off the deck to our Columbia townhome, is our own special "birding" tree.  For the past 10 years we have had multiple feeders in the tree and have gotten to know and love the many birds (and other animals) that make that small habitat and "restaurant" their home.
The other day a landscaping company hired by our local community association to trim and remove trees in the common area of our neighborhood, erroneously destroyed our tree (which is on our property) without any notification or justification -- taking off most of the branches before I was able to stop them.
I realize that the legal ramifications of this story are not for this list. However, I was heartbroken by the reaction of the birds to the situation and wanted to post my personal observations.
Almost immediately after the landscaping crew left, just about every species of bird that I have every seen in that tree arrived in the area, practically at the same time; landing on the deck and nearby trees, and looking up at what used to be "their" tree. I had never seen so many birds arrive at the same time. It was as if every bird in the area knew immediately that something was wrong. Their movements indicated panic as they flew from one place another in confusion. I cried for them.  In addition to dining at this tree, many of the doves sleep there. And I suspect that many others (my downies maybe) nest in it.
Watching (and interpreting) their reaction to this one tree, really brings home the enormity of the wholesale destruction of habitat, not only locally, but worldwide.
I am sad for my bird-friends...
Jenny McClintock
Columbia, MD