Nature, Red In Tooth And Claw

Two evenings ago, while walking the dog, a group of about eight robins flew furiously past me and seemed to be involved in some sort of fracas. They were squawking and screeching in a way I had never heard from these normally docile birds.

The robins landed on a lawn in front of me, and it was then that I noticed a hawk in the center of the group, just as it launched itself into the air with an orange-breasted bird dangling from its talons.

Like the earthworms and night crawlers that are often targeted by robins, the bird had become another creature's food.

The title of this entry is from a poem by Tennyson entitled *In Memoriam A.H.H.* It sums up well the daily struggle of so many Earthlings.