I work in my kitchen on a counter that spans a bay window overlooking my back yard. I live in the city of Minneapolis, so there are houses behind me, but my gardens are visible. I had landscapers install a feeding area for bird feeders, bird baths and flat, irregular-shaped, slate stones set into the ground.

From that window, I watch the wildlife. There are cardinals, bluejays, gold finches, house finches, robins, mourning doves and a myriad of other birds. Sometimes a flock of turkeys visit. When there is heavy rain we get ducks, who eat the corn I throw to them. Some of the feeders are on the ground for the ground-feeding birds. Bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks and an occasional opossum appear at the feeders. That’s okay. There’s plenty for all. We’ve taken so much of their habitat, we owe it to them to share.

This fall I’ve watched two baby squirrels playing in the ornamental apple tree just outside the window. They chase each other up and down, around the trunk, and through the branches, having so much fun. They are a joy to watch. Once in a while, they’ll pluck a dried apple from the branches to eat. They’re so cute when they go to eat seeds near the feeders, their tiny bodies sitting all hunched up eating the food I’ve put out.

I heard a fuss outside and looked up. A hawk was pursuing one of the baby squirrels, chasing it around the trunk of the tree. The squirrel escaped into a hedge of honeysuckle shrubs near the tree. The hawk pursued it. It lost sight of the squirrel, so it flew to the top of one of the poles holding the bird feeders, and perched. All the birds and squirrels were hiding. The hawk waited, watching for movement in the honeysuckle shrubs, and was prepared to strike.

I know hawks need to eat and mice, chipmunks, baby squirrels, and baby bunnies are their food source. But, these were my baby squirrels, darn it. I just couldn’t bear to think of having to watch the one left alone, playing all by itself, after its sibling was taken by the hawk. So I put on my shoes, went out onto the deck, down the stairs and into the yard. When the hawk saw me there, he he flew off to hunt in an area where no people interrupted him. I thought, ” Go and eat a baby squirrel from someone else’s yard. These little squirrels are mine.”