Last week I was folding clothes in my bedroom (there are ALWAYS more clothes to fold, no?) and a flash of movement and golden-brown feathers just outside my window caught my eye. My windows are the long kind that go almost to the floor, and whatever I saw was in the flowerbed just a foot away from the pane. I thought, “Did I just see a chicken land in my flowers?” My neighborhood is allowed to have hens so it was not beyond feasibility that someone didn’t know their hen could fly over a fence.
I went to the window for a look-see, and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A big-ass raptor, is what.
I ran and got Stitch and Spock (Lilo was in an after school girl scout meeting) in order that they could gaze upon the huge hawk barely inches away from us. The hawk had something in it’s talon, which I suspected was a chipmunk, but I didn’t draw their attention to the fact nature is red in tooth and claw. I just wanted the girls to see the fabulous bird.
Y’all, it was a beautiful thing. It was in a perfect patch of sun so it was lit up like it had a spotlight on it. Its eyes were yellow-gold and seemed intelligent. The feathers on its wings were a lustrous deep brown color, but its breast was cream with flecks of the same softer brown color as its head. Its beak was scary looking, to be honest. It looked like it could gouge out a chunk of steel, let alone soft flesh.
I was not the only one thrilled to see such a magnificent bird. Stitch trembled with joy and whispered-shouted, “This is the best day ever!”
After it flew away (they look so heavy when they take off!) we looked it up on the interwebs and found out it was a broad-winged hawk. My dad, an experienced birder, had spotted a pair (likely mated) overhead a moth or so before, and they sometimes landed in a tree just outside out back yard, but I could never tell what they really looked like. Well now I know they look like gorgeous feathered rodent-death.
How cool is that?
Awesomely cool. And even more awesomely cool with awesomesauce that you are the kind of mom who will bring her kiddoes in to admire amazing nature.
How fabulous! And being able to see the bird close up is the kind of thing that builds a love of nature in a child — seeing all that beauty and power. Excellent.
I had one of these beauties land in the birdbath in my back yard a couple of years ago. I don’t have kidlets I could call to admire it with me but all work stopped for about 20 minutes while I stood, transfixed, at the kitchen window and watched that gorgeous bird of prey splash and preen. It was magical.
How wonderfully gorgeous and powerful! A beautiful gift, for all of you.
Julie