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A few weeks ago I received a most interesting letter from Celia Rutt of Purcellville. Celia is a botanist of formidable talent whom I had gotten to know through work with the Virginia Native Plant Society.
Rutt is such an effective writer that it is best to quote directly from her letter. She wrote: “A sudden bat against the window alerted me to the chase of a predator and prey. In this case, a female Cardinal was stunned and lay flapping on the ground. I intervened, as I often do when a stunned bird is gathering its wits.
“[The Cardinal 1 scolded me, and let out an uncharacteristic distress call — something like a rabbit in distress. [The bird] also held onto my thumb with its beak. I pointed it toward the cover of shrubs and it took off as the phantom accipiter — Sharp-shinned Hawk, I think — swooped to collect its meal — all the while the Cardinal gave the distress call.”
Rutt goes on to ask: “I’d be interested to see if you have observed this behavior before in birds — where the prey assists in its demise?”
Bird behavior is difficult to interpret because we tend to see it in terms of our own emotions and reactions: anthropomorphic, in one long word. No doubt the Cardinal’s high pitched dis
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