Keeping Score

Hawk.

I've been in a total writing/situational slump the past week, where it seemed nothing really noteworthy or interesting was happening that I felt was worth writing about.

I was about to start making stuff up just to keep you people entertained, when nature intervened, and delivered unto me the hawk that appeared in my backyard today. I almost got a picture of it, but it was so far away and had its back turned. I was waiting for it to turn around and give me a profile or frontal shot so that it was more identifiable, when it got spooked by the neighbor's dog and flew off.

I can't begin to tell you how stoked I am that a hawk graced our backyard. Liz and I love hawks, and are constantly on the lookout for them when we're out driving. You can usually find one sitting on one of the 3 story tall lamp-posts on the highways looking at the ground on the side of the highway for a meal. The only other time I've seen one closer than this that wasn't in a zoo was when one flew just outside of Liz's old apartment window. That one was hovering on a stiff wind just ten feet off the ground about 12 feet away from her living room window.

So It seems that the circle of life is now finally complete in our backyard wildlife sanctuary. First we discovered rabbits living under the back deck (and birthing nests burrowed in the front yard), then mice and moles hiding behind the air conditioner, the occassional visits from raccoons, and now finally, the hawk. I'd mention all of the squirrels and birds, but really, whose yard doesn't have those occassional visitors?

Liz had to wake me up so I'd come verify that it was indeed a hawk, and as it turns out, the hawk was having breakfast underneath the willow tree. And it wasn't a bowl of fruit loops.

The sad irony is that the whole reason we could even see the hawk eating what was probably one of our rabbits was because the rabbits have grown hungry and eaten the bottom two feet of the willow branches that hang down; creating a sort of hemmed skirt effect that we could see under.

If I have the stomach, I'll venture out in the yard tonight after work with a flashlight and see if I can identify whatever it was eating.