City Hawks

This formerly country girl is always amazed to see city wildlife, but I’m not talking about the typical squirrels and birds you find everywhere. This morning, I looked out of my kitchen window and spotted a big hawk sitting on top of a telephone pole in the backyard.

I watched him for several minutes as his head turned this way and that, surveying his territory for any movement that would indicate small prey. I think this was the hawk who had visited once before when I noticed him high atop a scraggly tree, which was a casualty of last winter’s ice storm.

Then, I recalled that even in New York City on no less than Fifth Avenue, hawks have graced city-dwellers with their presence. A few years ago, two hawks, Pale Male and Lola, set up housekeeping atop a ritzy co-op apartment building and caused an uproar when their nest was torn down.

My hawk, who remains unnamed, allowed me to watch him, and then rather hastily, he took off with a great flourish of his wings. I suppose it was breakfast time.