I was enjoying my lunch-break today watching the action at our bird feeder. This time of year it’s a busy spot as the local chickadees have to put up with the springtime visitors coming back in, like the house finches, sparrows, gold finches, and others.

I happened to be looking away for a moment when I heard a loud thump against the glass of our sunroom. I looked up and there was a Cooper’s hawk trying to catch one of the scattering birds. It ended with a miss, like those nature shows that are too polite to show the carnage. I’m actually surprised this was the first time I’ve witnessed this, because it’s basically using the tried and true tactic of the lion at the watering hole, attacking a group of prey while they are distracted.

But what happened next was very interesting. For a long time, the activity at the feeder went totally silent. Obviously a warning had gone out in the neighborhood that a predator was in town, and all of the species that are usually competing at the bird feeder seemed to have worked together to get the word out.

Gradually, after about 15 minutes, they started reappearing. But I noticed they had adapted. The chickadees always take their food to go, grabbing one seed and flying off with it to enjoy it somewhere else. The house finches on the other hand typically sit down for a full course meal. But after the hawk attack, they too were ordering takeout. They even posted a guard who sat there scanning the yard while the others ate.

It seemed a perfect metaphor for what’s going on in our country right now. We songbirds all need to band together, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a chickadee, a finch, a sparrow, or a tiny gold finch. We’re all being attacked by the hawk, and we need to look out for each other. We need to work together against our common enemy. We need to keep our own security in mind.

Maybe that’s just posting a guard so we know when he’s in our neighborhood. Maybe that’s using the force of our numbers to annoy him until he goes away. But by joining together we stand a chance. That’s the important thing.

All predators try to separate the weak from the flock, and attack them first. So do what you can to protect the weak, because after they’ve all been slaughtered, the hawk’s coming for you.