Sleeping in after a late night of wholesome nerdy revelry, I was awakened 
this morning by heart-rending cries of avian distress. On the ground not far 
from our feeders, a Hairy Woodpecker was trying in vain to escape from the 
talons of a Cooper's Hawk, which was plucking it briskly. Eventually the 
woodpecker's cries stopped. Now there remains only a pile of feathers on the 
thin crust of snow.

I sure hope this isn't some kind of omen for the new year...

Janet Millenson
Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)

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"Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot