One day at my seed feeder, a juvenile cardinal was munching away and not looking around. An adult male flew in behind the juvenile, gave him/her a sharp peck and poke, then settled down w/o chasing the juvenile away. It looked for all the world like Daddy giving Junior some tough love: “Be glad I’m not a hawk. U could have been somebody’s lunch.”
Good lesson to give. I’ve seen several hits by sparrow hawks at my feeders, first you see is an explosion of feathers. Some chicks never get the message.
The Write Idea 
Ouch!
One day at my seed feeder, a juvenile cardinal was munching away and not looking around. An adult male flew in behind the juvenile, gave him/her a sharp peck and poke, then settled down w/o chasing the juvenile away. It looked for all the world like Daddy giving Junior some tough love: “Be glad I’m not a hawk. U could have been somebody’s lunch.”
Good lesson to give. I’ve seen several hits by sparrow hawks at my feeders, first you see is an explosion of feathers. Some chicks never get the message.