Natural Lessons

I don't know if it is because of the pandemic, but I've seen a lot of hawks in my neighborhood in the past year.

I first noticed one last March, and it could be that I had just never noticed them before.  But I have seen them in trees since then (in what I would call a semi-urban area) and even sitting on a fence post in a field near where I exercise walked this summer.  The field was, of all places, behind a major home improvement store.

Then, there was this.

Yesterday just before lunch, a co worker texted me and a couple of other co workers a picture.  "Look what is in my backyard!" she texted. "Do you know what that is?"  Without the pandemic, we would have been working in a downtown office.

It was (I think) a hawk.  Her picture was a lot better than the one I'm about to show you. (I'm not going to ask her for permission to show hers).

After consulting a guide (Kaufman's Field Guide to Birds of North America), I was thinking her hawk was a Cooper's Hawk.  

As for my hawk, it was in the back of our house, some distance away, so my iPhone couldn't get it well.  That's a hint that a video for beginning birders gave me - try to take a picture, or at least write down the details, before you grab a field guide.

Here is "my hawk".  Kind of blurry.  I assure you, this photo is a color photo.  My phone took a color picture but the drab white sky drained the colors from the bird.  So, no one is going to make an ID from this.  I couldn't even tell you the colors my naked (so to speak) eye saw.

I was beginning to think I'm not cut out for this birding thing.  It seems there is so much to learn.  I know experienced birders will say "don't stress, it will come to you."  But the amount of detail is overwhelming.  You have males, females and juveniles.  There are flying patterns, songs and calls, and other behavior.

There are birds that are year round, and birds that just pass through town for a day or two on the way to or from somewhere else.

How do you learn this stuff?  But, on the other hand, it isn't a competition.  Is it? 

How do you learn all the things you need to know?

I want the birds to become a type of companion.  I want to be outdoors to be with them.  I want to hear their songs.

Today, I won't be because when I woke up, it was 14 degrees F, with a howling wind.  But the hawks are still out there, doing what they need to do.

So these are the lessons Nature has taught through these two hawks:

1.  Spring is almost here, but it's March.  The warm weather will come.  But not today.

2.  My life is on a different track (along with the rest of us) so make the best of it.

3.  Patience is the best strategy.   The learning will come in its own time.