Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

The Cooper’s Hawk

Amazing!! As I sit here at my dining room table — this very moment! — there is a Cooper’s hawk walking around on the deck railing right outside my livingroom window.

I was alerted to the hawk’s presence by Marjie, my faithless birdwatching cat. She’s sitting on the dining room table, hoping for a little of my breakfast. She made her little “mip!” sound that she makes when she sees a bird nearby outside and I followed her gaze to the window.

Lo! A hawk!

How very cool! I’d take a picture but If I got up to get the camera I’d very likely scare her away. Here’s a picture from the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s web site, though. Click on the picture to open a new window on their site. Listen to the recording they have of a Cooper’s hawk!! I’m really surprised. I’ve heard that sound many times before and always assumed it was some kind of woodpecker. Live and learn, eh?

The hawk is not here for the nuts I put out on the deck railing, of course. She’s here for the smaller birds who’ve come to eat the nuts. I’ve seen Cooper’s hawks around before. In the last couple of years they’ve become much more common. Once I even saw one with a full-grown pigeon pinned down on the backyard lawn.

Until recently, Cooper’s hawks were thought of as woodland birds. As the woods around northern Virginia have been ripped down to build townhouses, though, the hawks have had to adapt. Birds around suburban bird feeders make relatively easy pickings.

The hawk has flown away now. I didn’t hear her leave — just like I didn’t hear her arrive. For such a big bird, she’s amazingly quiet in her flight. And now I hear blue jays outside debating whether its safe to come in to eat yet.