For the last month, Mary Alice has been planning, planting, watering and weeding her gardens. She moves flowers and plants around her gardens like some people move furniture around in their homes. Her labor has produced a very pleasing back yard.

On one of our beautiful summer mornings, I walked out our back door to be greeted by a splash of colors from her flower gardens; birds, such as the black-capped chickadees, cardinals, robins and phoebes, were singing; the sun was shining and a gentle breeze was blowing.

All was right with the world and nature.

Suddenly, a crow appeared on the scene, and the peacefulness was gone when the crow got too close to the robin’s nest. The birds quickly changed their songs to distress calls and were able to chase the crow from the area.

Who would suspect that this placid scene would have a darker side? Nature is far from serene. I read in Adrian Forsyth’s book “The Nature of Birds” that, in the bird world, birds can be far from gentle. In one study, a female phoebe, in search of a nest, attacked the nestlings of another female phoebe and threw the nestlings to the ground.

The male parent tried to feed the young on the ground but failed. The aggressive female took over the nest and began a courtship display. Eventually, the male mated with her, and the pair had young of their own. Whatever happened to the original female was not mentioned in the book.

The phoebe belongs to the flycatcher family, with the family’s scientific name of tyrannidae, from the Latin word tyrannus, and the Greek word tyrannos, meaning lord or ruler, which is in allusion to the aggressiveness of members of the family.

House wrens, tree swallows, bluebirds and purple martins have also been known to intentionally destroy eggs and the young of other birds of their same species. This can be done by either the male or the female. In one study, during a two-week period, a female tree swallow destroyed five different nests of other females, killing 25 nestlings.

In another study done on tree swallows, the male was removed from the nest site after the pair had hatched out their nestlings; another male quickly flew to the nest, replacing the missing male and then killing the young. The second male then mated and nested with the female. Ornithologists feel that individual birds do their utmost to reproduce their own genes, which is the reason that sometimes this killing occurs.

When an adult bird or animal kills the young of its own species it is called infanticide and the destruction of eggs is called ovicide. Infanticide has been observed in many species, including insects, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. Infanticide can be practiced by both males and females and is often caused by sexual conflict. It can also occur for other reasons, such as the struggle for food between females. In these cases, individuals can even kill closely related offspring.

Paternal infanticide occurs when a parent kills its own offspring. This sometimes involves consumption of the young themselves, which is termed filial cannibalism. After young bass hatch, the father guards the area, circling around and keeping the young together. This also provides protection from would-be predators.

After a few days, most of the young fish will swim away. At this point, the male’s behavior changes and, instead of defending the stragglers, he treats them as any other small prey and devours them.

The black bear has also been classified as a dangerous father. A male bear does not recognize his offspring and is capable of killing and even devouring his own young. In Minnesota, a study was done that showed, from 1930-78, there were nine cases of either bear or yearling bear killed by other bear.

In my 34 years as a game warden I only had one case where a male bear had killed a female bear. This event occurred at the top of Kellogg Mountain on SGL 36. The female bear was young and had given birth to two cubs while in the den. The cubs had not survived and it appeared from the droppings that after the cubs died she ate them. Once she left the den she was immediately attacked by a much larger male bear and killed.

I came upon the scene shortly after happening and possibly chased the male bear away because the female carcass was still fresh and warm. I called Gary Alt, our bear biologist, to tell him of my find. He instructed me to set snares around the dead carcass in hopes that I could catch the male bear if he returned. I had to leave the mountain, and return to my home in Troy to pick up snares. While there I enlisted the help of deputy Harold Haverly (now deceased). When we returned to the site, we found that the male bear had already returned and carried the dead carcass away.

The top of Kellogg Mountain is covered with thick stands of mountain laurel that in some places grew higher than our heads. I told Harold we should split up and look for the carcass, with the belief that the male had not taken the carcass very far. Even though we were both carrying revolvers,

Harold was reluctant to walk through the mountain laurel; I assured him that the male bear would simply run away if we got too close. After searching for about ten minutes, Harold gave a blood curdling scream. I am sure that my heart must have skipped several beats as I ran towards Harold’s location.

I was thinking that he had been attacked by the bear. When I reached Harold I saw that he was sitting on a large rock, with his head in his hands, and I asked if he was OK. He replied that he had scared a turkey off its nest, and when the turkey flushed from the laurel he thought it was the bear. We never did find the carcass because the search ended.

Humans most often think of nature as serene and are reluctant to acknowledge how cruel our natural world can be.

Next week’s column is on the never ending war between plants and insects.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.