No, it is
not really cold as the hip kids in Jr. High used to say when it was cold and
windy,
“The hawk
is out today…Hit the right the hawk is out.”
The hawk
meant it was cold and windy, hit the
right was a reference to telling the truth in court. The hip kids, who we all tried to emulate,
may have had a more intimate relationship with court than the un-hip kids.
Anyway,
today the hawk was out for real.
Though we
live in suburban New Jersey, we have quite a bit of woods and a nearby river
that does attract lots of wild life. We
have squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits. We have lots of birds and occasionally see
deer crossing the road and a pair of Bald Eagles over the river. Local “Ring” doorbells often catch a coyote
and that gets people very excited.
Today I peeked
out my kitchen window and staring at me from a tree was a large red tail hawk.
There are
many different kinds of hawks, and I often joke that when I see one it is a red
tail. Makes me seem like I know my
birds, but in reality most hawk sightings are too far away and too high to make
a clear identification…plus the only hawk I know is the “Red Tail” thus that is
always my identification.
This hawk
was clearly a red tail as he was large and HE HAD A RED TAIL!
Now I like
my chipmunks and rabbits. I even enjoy
squirrel watching when they stay out of my eaves, but a close encounter with a
large hawk is kind of special. The hawk
did soon fly off, but was seen swooping a few times. I sense he is lurking.
I do not
expect to see any rabbits, chipmunks or squirrels for a day or two. They seem to know when to lay low. I’d hate to see the hawk grab one, but then
the hawk has to eat and live too. I
would hate to never see one of these beautiful birds again.
Do you root
for the small ground creatures to avoid the large bird, or do you want the
large beautiful bird to eat and survive as well.
Nature is
hard when it is not just on TV.
I don’t know
who to root for, I love them all…I guess I will just let God sort it all out.
Survival of the fittest. This goes for the little critters too. They have their food chain just as the hawk does.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day, Joe. ☺
We have serious chipmunk issues here. They destroy any and all landscaping. I’m always happy to see hawks.
ReplyDeleteI see more turkey buzzards than hawks, but a couple times a month I'll see a hawk perched on a fence post on my way to town. I'm pretty sure it's the same one, always in the same area. Oklahoma is chock full of hawks! On our drives to visit The Pony in Norman, we'd see a hawk in almost every tree in fields along the highway.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the Disney version where the hawk would dive for the bunny but the bunny would just escape. We knew the hawk would some day catch him, we just didn't have to watch it. Kind of the way I like Nature.
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to have such creatures living near you. Over here it is just a variety of birds (sparrows, robins and pigeons) and the odd squirrel. Or if there are two; the pair of squirrels. Also hedgehogs.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Prey animals like mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits have large litters for a reason. I love the big raptors. If they eat too much, their population would plummet. But from my experience, there are plenty of mice and rabbits to go around. This from a woman who met a mouse on a walk. When the mouse stopped and looked at me, I recognized it was a errant pet. No one claimed it. But the kids at school enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a hawk grab a pigeon (yay! we have lots and lots of those), but of course on nature shows they often show the lion killing a baby gazelle (or something like that). You bet it's rather hard to watch ~ but all God's creatures must eat. That's what I tell myself when I watch those shows.
ReplyDeleteI love hawks! And surprisingly we see them in Phoenix proper, even in our neighborhood, which has no wood or water around us. If they take care of our pigeon problem here in the city that suits me just fine! Now what we don't have here are bunnies and squirrels. Perhaps because too many brick walls for rabbits to be able to survive. We do have the coyotes and whenever I see a lost cat sign I wonder.....
ReplyDeletebetty
That's it, you have to let nature take its course, G-d set it up that way. It's sad for the little creature, happy for the predator that gets to eat.
ReplyDeleteMarlon Perkins can handle it. Oh wait, he's gone too?
ReplyDeleteI love hawks probably more than the little critters he eats and we could use a few dozen of those hawks here in Aus right now, particularly in NSW which is currently swarming with plagues of mice.
ReplyDeleteYou got a beautiful photo of it in flight.
Photos stolen from the internet.
DeleteThis is really interesting post dear Joe !
ReplyDeleteI used to be too emotional for such happenings but I think now I am mature enough to realise that Darwin was right to some extent and I think Creator want us to understand that we should live most of the time in alert and focused state of mind. And so true about watch your step because there is no space for mistakes if you want to survive