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 Hawk Stories

The other morning, breathing with my mother oak, I arch my spine far backwards with arms stretched up, gazing into the canopy. Maybe twenty feet above me on one of the live oak’s sturdy bare branches, I spot a fuzzy big ball moving – wow, what is that? A big owl? (I am a bit shortsighted, but don’t wear glasses). Carefully walking up the stairs to get a better look, I recognize a bird of prey – a hawk. A couple of blue jays try to scare him away, screeching loudly, in vain. Hawk and me lock eyes for long moments. (What kind is it? Not a red-tailed hawk.) He continues to preen his plumage, fluffing up even more, and when shaking his expanded body, a cloud of small white feathers is released, drifting upwards on the light breeze. We spend maybe ten minutes eyeing each other. I marvel how camouflaged he is up there, not far from me, perched so well. At last, he flies off low, beating his beautifully marked wings fast, with whoosh-whoosh-whoosh melody…. 

Red-shouldered hawk feather 

 

A few hours later, an acquaintance shows me a feather he found when walking his dog earlier, and I ask what kind of hawk. Red shouldered hawk, he answers. They hunt for voles, and gophers as well, he says (yes, I got lots of them!) and they are molting right now. Ahh, that is who visited me this morning: red shouldered hawk!  

 

Three years ago, I spent half an hour with a red tailed hawk visiting me, sitting in almost the same spot, a bit lower though. I sense somebody watching me before I discover him. He saw me coming from my cottage to inspect the garden, perhaps knows I am sleeping there under the trees. Dreamily, astonished, I look, blinking – he stays put to be seen by me. He feels so close by. Otherworldly…. and intuitively, I start some soft T’ai chi shifting, turning my body, and so does hawk turn his gaze and royal beak, continuing to surveil the land, including me. I am in awe; birds of prey don’t like to be watched. After about half hour, suspecting I might be still dreaming, I go down to the house to get my camera. Hawk still there, waiting for me. I cautiously take several stills, finally he calmly glides off into the cork oak, showing me his beautiful tail and wide wings. That is the beginning of a couple of hawk pairs nesting nearby in our neighborhood. As a result the squirrel populations is down, and I am able to harvest more of my plums and apples. The hawk’s visit and our joint meditation will stay with me forever. “I am going nowhere, I am right here” he seems to say, his noble bird presence comforting and protecting me. 

 

Red tailed hawk visiting in 2019 

  

Well, this time, the day after slightly smaller red shouldered hawk’s visit, I discover a beautiful feather half hidden beneath the fern… Molting just above, unbeknownst to me he left a gift. (The photo at top is actually of the fine feather he leaves me.)  As if he knew that I collect feathers – all over the house and in in my car, they are displayed in bunches, reminding me of the possibility of freedom…. 

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