Nesting hawks

Caleb and I had one of the "WOW" experiences this evening.

We went for a walk on a trail while Conner was at gymnastics. While we were walking, we could hear birds calling to each other and I thought it sounded like hawks. Self-doubt set in because we were in the middle of the city and surely there wouldn't be any hawks that close to people. Ummmm... it WAS a hawk. Actually, it was more than one. It was a pair of hawks.

We started on an open area of trail, then headed into a wooded area. As soon as we got in the wooded area, we could see the hawks and had one swoop right over our heads - within a foot. It stopped ahead of us and sat on a branch staring at us.

We froze. We were whispering about it and watching it to see what it would do. It looked at us for awhile and then flew a bit further down the trail to its nest. Yes - it was building a nest in the top of a tree that was right off the trail. We very quietly walked on past so we wouldn't disturb it again.

On the way back, we didn't notice the hawk in or near the nest which was a bit disappointing. Then we saw that it was hiding under an evergreen right at the edge of the woods. I'm guessing it had found a rabbit or some other tasty treat but we didn't see any evidence of prey when we walked by. (Another person on the trail startled it away before we got close.)

Ever notice that little moments like this are what stick with you? Although Caleb might argue and say that it was just as much fun when I jumped on the cart in the parking lot at Target and told him to push me to the car....