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The red-tailed hawk was minding his own business. Atop a telephone pole in the Audubon natural area across from the north side of Moses Cone Hospital, he likely was just chilling.

Or he was using his binocularlike eyes to survey the weedy landscape below for field mice and other delicacies. The hawk is a king predator around these parts. Other birds should be wary.

But, suddenly, through the sky comes this tiny gray speck of a bird with white on its wings. It buzzes around the hawk like a fly. It's bothering the heck out of the big bird. The harassment continues.

The hawk, which measures up to 26 inches from top to bottom, finally responds. Not by reaching out with one of its sharp talons and ripping the intruder to feathery pieces. The hawk takes flight. The pesky tormentor, only 101/2 inches long, gives chase.

Atticus Finch could be challenged when he said in that famous movie that it is a sin "to kill a mockingbird." Finch, played by Gregory Peck, was the key figure in the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Some might ask, why? Northern mockingbirds, common here throughout the year, rank as one of the craziest critters in the animal kingdom.

Most people only know one side of the mockingbird's personality. "Oh, aren't they the ones who mimic other birds?" Hence, the name "mockingbird."

They do imitate the sounds of other birds. But to people who enjoy watching birds in action, what makes these otherwise small, dull-looking animals so fascinating is their fearlessness. Foolishness might be a better word - attacking a hawk, indeed. But it seems rare when a mockingbird suffers for its aggressiveness.

"You make a big enough noise" no matter your size, others will take notice and keep their distance, birdwatcher Louise Brown of Climax says.

Brown and others have seen this fighter pilot of a bird in action. She has seen them dive-bomb cats, dogs and people. They attack out of fear their nests might be disturbed.

Brown says she doubts if anyone has ever been hospitalized from a mockingbird attack. But a few sore heads may have resulted.

Years ago, outside the News & Record building on East Market Street, a mockingbird buzzed employees on a walkway. The bird had built a nest in the bushes bordering the walk. The walk was scary. The bird didn't peck but it bounced off shoulders and heads.

A common sight is of a mockingbird chasing crows through the skies. Crows are very big birds. The mockingbird has good reason to despise the crow, Louise Brown says. The crow is known to eat mockingbird chicks and eggs, as well as those of blue jays and other birds.

Brown, who keeps the Web site for the Piedmont Bird Club, says she was unsettled one day by a racket outside her house. She saw a crow attacking a blue jay's nest. The jay squawked and was joined in making noise by some chickadees and a cardinal.

Maybe a mockingbird was needed to take on the crow.
Despite its aggressive nature, the mockingbird has a political constituency. A check of the Internet indicates the mockingbird has been named the official state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. (The nonthreatening cardinal is North Carolina's).

The feisty bird seems so different than the one celebrated in lullabies. "The Mockingbird Song" has been recorded by such artists as Bo Diddley, James Taylor and Carly Simon.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word," it goes, "Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird don't sing, Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring."

In fact, Mama might be jailed if she bought her child a mockingbird. It might amount to child abuse, especially if the child tried to play with the mockingbird's baby.
One of the great hymns of the last century is "His Eye is on the Sparrow." It means Christ keeps an eye on everyone through the sparrow.

"His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me," the song says.

Congregations smile and sway as they sing it.
But let's hope Heaven is keeping an eye on the mockingbird, who might be about to chase a sparrow who is supposed to be keeping an eye on us.

Contact Jim Schlosser at 601-9879 or beale1@clear-wire.net