Maybe I Should Just Leave God's Creatures Alone

When I was twelve years old I contracted the chicken pox and like a good big sister, passed it along to my two younger brothers. After a week trapped in the house with three bored children (oozy, crusty, and plain revolting in appearance) mom opted to bypass the local bar and instead, drove herself to the nearest shopping center and found a pet store.
She returned with a pregnant mouse on the verge of delivering tiny offspring.
"Kids, very soon, you will witness the beauty of childbirth," she said. "You will never forget this experience."
Mom was right, we didn't.
Mere hours after bringing home the glass aquarium containing the furry little mom-to-be, we sat with our mother and watched the labor and delivery process. Mama mouse gave birth to ten of the ugliest babies I'd ever seen; hairless, gray, and blind, they were about the size of garden grubs.
"What happens now?" asked my youngest brother. "Are they hungry?"
"Wait and see," said Mom. "Nature has a way of taking care of everything. The mother will do everything by instinct."
It's been thirty-eight years, but what happened next still haunts my dreams to this very day. I can still hear the shrill screams of my brother.
"MOM! MOM! SHE'S KILLING HER BABIES!"
It was infanticide, plain and simple. The tiny, wormlike creatures never stood a chance.
My frantic mother called the pet store and was told in times of stress or fear, mother mice will sometimes kill and eat their young.
It would have been nice if someone had mentioned  that before she left the store.

But I'm getting off track...
Let's fast forward to present day Tamara world.
Several weeks ago,  I noticed lots of birds hanging out on my deck; doves, little red-headed finch like creatures, starlings, blackbirds, etc.
My first mistake was buying the birdseed and the birdfeeder. Remember that Fabrege Organic shampoo commerical from years and years ago? I told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on...
That's how it rolls in the bird world. I looked out on my deck one day and it was like an avian convention. Birds and bird poop everywhere.
And then the doves decided they not only wanted to eat from the birdfeeder, they wanted to live in the birdfeeder! The weight from their round bodies actually tilted the base of the feeder off kilter, thrilling the other birds because all of the birdseed spilled over onto the deck. Fortunately, some massive winds blew through last week, sweeping the birdfeeder off the deck and onto my neighbor's roof.
I thought this would be the end of my feathered buddies. No food, no reason to show up anymore...no more bird poop.
They won't leave. However, I've gained an ally who may convince them to find a new deck...a hawk. He/she is an absolutely regal creature, about a foot and a half in height, and apparently new to the neighborhood.
So far, no casualties, but the doves better watch their backs...