Cooper Hawk Starts Sunday With Big Smile

This morning James and I  awoke to a Cooper Hawk sitting on our lawn chair.  It then flew to the iron railing on our front stoop.  The power and grace of these birds are known to all, but to see one first thing in the morning as a welcoming to the day is quite a gift.  It reminds me again that being rich should never be measured in money alone.

I grew up in Hancock, Wisconsin with lots of rural land where animals could roam and live.  There were wild turkeys in the field and countless deer.  Every now and then a racoon would be seen up in one of the large oaks in the back yard. But in all the years of growing up the animals were always at a distance.

It has only been during the last three years in Madison I now have a more close proximity to animals.  From the red tail hawk that hunts in the tree right out the window, the eagles that ‘fish’ on the lake, or the loons in the spring and coots in the fall, I am awed by the beauty of Mother Nature.

So it was again this morning. 

By the time I grabbed my baseball cap and camera and slipped into shoes…no time for a coat in spite of the cold air….I was able to follow the hawk as it lifted silently off the railing in search of food.   Down the street it went.  I actually lost it for a time and only when I looked back over my shoulder and up into some trees did I spot it.

Perched.  Waiting.   Hoping. 

The hawk was facing into the wind and you can see the wind ruffle his feathers.  (This was when I wished I had my coat!)  In the picture below the end of the tail feathers reach below the tree branch.  A large and amazing bird.

At some point when I was about frozen in the wind the wonderful bird lifted off for another perch to look for food.  I was able to capture it in flight just after it lifted off the branch.

When the hawk had moved on I looked down at my feet for the first time in about twenty minutes.  There at my left shoe on this gray, cold, and cloudy morning, was the color of happiness that I felt inside.  What a great day!