I’ve got a secret

Walking around my yard this afternoon, I looked up. Well, that’s what people who look at birds do. Scan the sky and the treetops and see what is around. I catch a dark form sky surfing through the Cirrus clouds, one that my experience and lots of trial and error (mostly error) allows me to pin the title accipter to. Lifting my binoculars to my eyes (yes I had them with me, as I do all the time. Doesn’t everyone?) I see the almost headless form of a bird of prey most commonly called a Sharp Shinned Hawk. “Sharpies” are the birds of prey most backyard bird feeders encounter, especially as the weather turns cooler. You see, accipters by trade are songbird hunters. Their shorter rounder wings and long rudder like tail allow them to chase and catch songbirds.  And they do so with great success, as the species survival attests. This particular Sharp Shinned Hawk was not on the hunt however; the Chickadees and Titmice in the yard were busy scurrying around going about the business of being Chickadees and Titmice. No, this hawk was just out for an early winter’s fly. Soaring on thermals and banking with the wind. In fact, he looked like he was having fun.

As I watched this hawk, I wondered, does anyone else see this bird? Is anyone else sharing this moment with me? Or is this just a moment for the Sharpie and I?  A command performance? I think not….Sharpies are not the kind of bird you command around. A private moment? I believe so….I was not standing on a ridge or hawk watch platform amidst a cadre of other birders during peak migration. Just a wonderful Sharp Shinned Hawk and I, watching his effortless circling. Now, I know that the Sharpie couldn’t know I was there, and if it did, couldn’t care less. But, at that moment, that snap shot in my memory, I was privy to something special.  I found myself guarding it jealously. Savoring each moment of observation, watching so intently I can see the hawk shrug his shoulders and bank steeply left. I didn’t want anyone else to be seeing this. I wanted this to be my moment. Mine and the high flying Sharp Shinned Hawk enjoying his winter constitutional. I must have watched this bird for ten minutes.  I could swear he was showing off. Every now and then the Sharpie would put on a burst of speed, the kind of acceleration that closes the gap between predator and prey and insures one’s survival and one’s demise.  The slow long turns accentuated by quick changes in direction. It is no wonder that we humans, helplessly tethered to the ground, have long admired and often times worshiped birds of prey. Such mastery of the sky is something to be admired and respected. As I watched this hawk, I thought about the literally thousands of Sharp Shinned Hawks I have seen over the years. And, you know what, I was still in just as much awe, was just as excited and enjoyed this particular Sharpie as much as any of them. If not perhaps more. This was just a special treat. One that I was lucky enough to see because I looked up. Just glancing around the skies, taking an avian inventory as it were.  Jealously guarding my secret, reveling in the fact that, in my mind, I was the only one who saw this and it made me smile.