It's 'The Birds' from summer camp all over again

I have a literal murder of birds in my front maple tree. As in, dead birds are showing up at an alarming frequency in the surrounding plant beds.

At first, I thought, hey! Poor baby bird lost its way on the way out of the nest! Tragic, but ultimately understandable. Then, the next day (#1 has been carted off by this time to regions unknown), #2 shows up maybe a good foot from where the first one met in its grisly demise. Still, two can still be coincidence, right? Okay. Two days ago. #3 descends in a pile of maple leaf seedlings that my boys (in all their boy wisdom) jostled out from the center crook of the main branches, only to end up, still dead, in the middle of my driveway.

Is survival rate really this horrible? I guess I should hope so, considering the unholy screeching the number of still-livings members of the species manage to make between themselves. Maybe I'll just chalk this one under the 'disturbing but really okay because it means at least three less greedy beaks going after my lavender/sage and I'm beginning to suspect, tomatoes.

In related news, I think the aphids are winning. While a total of three from the gaggle of fred-meyer provided lady bugs 'organic pest control packet' are still diligently clearing out my decimated dill plants, there are about a hundred or so napping on the dirt directly underneath said dill plants.

I wonder if I should have taken the 'spray with water every three hours' instructions a little more seriously.