Every day when John gets home
from work the dogs greet him with wagging tails. They get especially excited
when they hear John’s truck pull in because they know that rain or shine, it’s
time for their walk. Even in the winter, if it’s freezing cold outside, John
puts a pink and green reversible “down” jacket on Suzie, clips the leashes on
her and T-Bone, and off they go.
They usually walk down to our
neighborhood park. It has an open grassy area and a playground surrounded by
woods. They love sniffing along the trails cutting through the woods.
“The Walk” routine finishes up
with John taking their leashes off, and then feeding them. Sometimes he tells
me about how they met up with other dogs, or how he let them off their leashes
to chase a rabbit as I get our dinner ready to serve.
Last Wednesday I was out running
an errand. I got home as John filled the dogs’ bowls. He opened his story with,
“Something weird happened in the park tonight.”
I thought he was going to tell
me that there was another creep in the park. He and Sarah had once called the
police about a creepy guy lurking near the playground. But this was an entirely
different story.
“We were on that old road part,
just coming up to the fallen log when something big flew up from the ground
and landed in a tree. Then two more birds flew up.”
I asked, “Did the dogs bark?”
“No. But they were looking up in
the tree.”
“What kind of birds were they?”
“I think they were falcons. And
they were eating something on the ground when we surprised them.”
He tried taking pictures of them
with his cell phone. To keep it steady, he let go of the dogs’ leashes. Ever
faithful T-Bone sat by his side and waited. Ever curious Suzie, took off
through the undergrowth of blackberry bushes. John was focused on the birds,
which he thought were falcons.
After a few minutes, he started
calling Suzie. In her typical dachshund way, Suzie wouldn’t come. Her nose had
taken over. She was on the scent of something.
John called our house and told
Johnny and his girlfriend Sarah K. (Suzie’s “mom”) that he’d lost Suzie. “Come
to the park to help me find her. Johnny drive your car. Sarah bring your
camera.” Johnny has a loud muffler on his Honda Accord. Suzie and in fact the entire
neighborhood can hear him coming and going. Johnny is Suzie’s favorite person
in the whole world so she perks up whenever she hears his car rumbling.
Sarah K. took off on foot. Johnny revved up his car. As soon as he pulled
into the small parking lot at the park, Suzie popped out. He ran over and
grabbed her leash.
John told Johnny and Sarah about
the falcons. They went back on one of the trails and just over their heads,
three of the birds sat perched in the Douglas Fir trees staring down at them.
Sarah snapped some pictures of them as they confidently posed.
The next day, John was out of
town. I was eager to see the birds of prey. Johnny and I took the dogs for
their walk and he took me to the falcons hang out. Sure enough, they were there
again. They are about eight inches tall, with noble faces. They were not afraid
of us at all. We spent at least fifteen minutes taking pictures of them and
watching them.
They towered above us looking
down at us as if they were wondering why we were whispering. They are not skittish
at all, but I guess if you’re the predator, what’s to be scared of?
The next time I saw them was
walking the dogs with John. When we got to the usual spot, they weren’t there.
I wondered if they’d come if I “called” them. I tried imitating the sound I’d
heard them make. We heard one answer from a distance. The next thing I knew,
one of them came swooping right at me! At the last second, it veered upward and
landed on a branch 10 feet above my head.
His (or her) two siblings joined
the party within minutes. When my heart stopped pounding, it was picture time
again.
Afterwards at home, I skipped
looking through our bird books. I went right online and searched for them. We
think they are juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawks, however, they could also be Cooper’s
Hawks. John sent one of our pictures to a bird expert that he knows, asking her
if she could identify it.
Yesterday we took our daughter
Sarah to see them. We showed her where their nests are. Once again, they weren’t
there, but I called them. They swooped in. She was as impressed as we are and
zoomed in on them with the camera.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
website says: “Sharp-shinned Hawks are agile fliers that speed through dense
woods to surprise their prey, typically songbirds. They do not stoop (sic) on prey from high overhead. They
may also pounce from low perches. When flying across open areas they have a
distinctive flap-and-glide flight style.” The first time that one answered my
call, it definitely surprised me! Maybe my “call” resembles prey in distress!
I prefer to think they’re eating
rats and mice in the park, but I won’t call them from our backyard deck near
our bird feeders. The dogs have been patient with our hawk obsession. There’s
something about spotting wildlife in its natural environment that is amazing.
Laura Keolanui
Stark is taking more walks in the park. She can be reached at
stark.laura.k@gmail.com.
