The last time we lived in the US, we added a sunroom onto our house and put a garden in on either side of it.  We built it on what had been the deck, so it didn't take up any more room in the yard, but made the space usable all year.  It was so important to me that we actually chose the house based on the future sunroom--as soon as we saw the deck on that house, we knew that was where the sunroom had to go.  And it did--it was worth every (excessive) dollar that it cost and we spent most of our time there.  So with a bulb garden on one side, a flower and veggie garden on the other, and a lovely yard behind, it was perfect.

In the center of the yard, near some ornamental grass plants, we made a bird feeding area and we would sit and watch the activity.  Our neighbor behind us had a swimming pool (which in that climate didn't make much sense to me, but it was his choice).  Between our bird food and his pool, it became the annual destintation for several pairs of ducks.  One couple, Mr. and Mrs. Duck (as opposed to The Gay Guys, who also returned every year), would make their home by the pool and come to our yard for meals.  They would have their babies in the safety of the neighbor's fenced yard, and teach them to swim in his pool.  And therein lay the problem.  The year that they had 11 babies, they led them into the pool, taught them to swim, and then got out--but the babies couldn't make the leap from the level of the water to the deck, so they were trapped in the pool until the inevitable exhaustion and ensuing demise occurred.  I was in Canada when this happened, and when the husband told me, I have to admit, there were tears.  We talked with the neighbor, who traveled a great deal, and he devised a ramp for the pool so that this wouldn't happen again.  The next year Mr. and Mrs. Duck returned, but they were much more protective of their babies and when we kept annoying them by checking to make sure they were all okay, they herded their family to the little lake that was a few blocks away.  We missed watching them, but were glad they were safe.

We have once again made a bird feeding area in the yard of this house and we spend many hours sitting out back watching the birds.  We also have several humming birds during the season and their feeder is quite close to the house so that we can enjoy them up close and personal.  And this house comes with its own bird dilemma--one of our resident birds is a hawk, and he views the feeders as his personal buffet.  And by this I don't mean he's eating birdseed...  He selects what he wants from the daily fresh sheet and uses the yard as his dining area, unless we inadvertently disturb him.  When he is done, he leaves us a scattering of feathers to let us know he was here.

Herein lies the moral conflict.  Do we stop feeding the birds to prevent their potential deaths?  Do we go with survival of the fittest and continue to feed them knowing the hawk will continue with his feeding?   Do we pretend not to notice so that it doesn't bother us? 

Nature's a bitch...