Bird Watching, Dog Walking

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.