Nesting Hawk Pair

Over the past six years, from February to July, I have watched a breeding pair of red tailed hawks raise their young in a nest along I-96. I noticed the nest one day in late winter as I drove to work and over the years, I have been fascinated with the pair.

In late winter, the hawks will bring additional 'new' material to the nest, which is at the top of a 70 foot tree. Starting in early March, the female roosts on the nest continuously with the male bringing her food. By late April, she has started to sit higher in the nest, indicating the chick has grown and there is less space for her. Soon, on warm days, both parents leave the nest in search of food and if I'm lucky, I catch a glimpse of them feeding the fledgling. June is the month of the most activity as the young hawk is ravenous 24/7 and the parents can barely keep up with supplying breakfast, lunch and dinner. July will find the young hawk venturing further and further from the nest and eventually flying. It's a beautiful sight to see!

This year in March, on my way home from work, I noticed a hawk had been hit by a car and it's body lay along side the road. My heart plummeted and over the next week, I made more trips than I will admit to see if there was a hawk in the nest. Very seldom will a hatch survive without both parents, especially if the weather is cold. The weather was terrible with early spring snow and below freezing temperature. My mood matched the weather and I began to wonder if it was the last I would see of my beloved pair.

Ten days later as I drove to work and glanced up, not expecting to see anything, I was amazed to see a small head just above the rim of the nest and the male hawk gliding in with a small rodent in his talons. :-)

I'm happy to say, the pair is fine. The female is now sitting slightly higher in the nest and my weekend plans include a trip with my telescope to enjoy my pair once again!

Because You Asked...

Rach, I always have more favorites!

LOST SONGS

by Nina Salaman

How long the singing voices of my heart
Have all been silent! Day by day the sound
Of noisy nothings whirling through their round.
Of restless nullity has dulled the smart
Which silencing of life's whole truer part
Must cost the soul; and hour and days abound
When not one space for hearkening may be found
And not one stillness for the tears to start.

Only at night, amid the quiet rain,
Or scent of flowers, or in the full moon's sight,
Sometimes a thought comes back, and then the pain
Of some lost poem floating on the night
Brings to the heart its inmost song of again,
The weakening whisper of its old delight.



SONG OF THE MIDNIGHT FOX

by Eileen Sheehan

I will come to you
in a cloak of darkness
on a sultry night
too warm to sleep

watch for the cloud of my breath
on your window,
for the whimper of nails
on the glass.

I will lead you
past the boundary of the garden
on a zig zag path
through moonlit fields.

I will guide you
to a secret place I know of
where a warm stream feeds
a shaded pool

and as you shake the moisture
from your body
I will land you safely back
inside your head.

And when you wake without me,

don't dismiss me as some creature
the darkness made you dream:
I am real as anything
you care to touch.

Step outside, my love
inhale the morning;
you will catch
my lingering scent on the air.

One of My Favorite Poems

Passengers" by Billy Collins

At the gate, I sit in a row of blue seats
with the possible company of my death,
this sprawling miscellany of people -
carry-on bags and paperbacks -

that could be gathered in a flash
into a band of pilgrims on the last open road.
Not that I think
if our plane crumpled into a mountain

we would all ascend together,
holding hands like a ring of sky divers,
into a sudden gasp of brightness,
or that there would be some common spot

for us to reunite to jubilize the moment,
some spaceless, pillarless Greece
where we could, at the count of three,
toss our ashes into the sunny air.

It's just that the way that man has his briefcase
so carefully arranged,
the way that girl is cooling her tea,
and the flow of the comb that woman

passes through her daughter's hair...
and when you consider the altitude,
the secret parts of the engines,
and all the hard water and the deep canyons below...

well, I just think it would be good if one of us
maybe stood up and said a few words, or,
so as not to involve the police,
at least quietly wrote something down.

Loving Michigan

This weekend reminded me why I love Michigan. After a long and dreary winter, Michigan has turned on it's charm and wowed me back into love. :-)

Melinda and I spent an afternoon at Amon Park outside of Sparta and I could not believe how many wildflowers were in bloom. We came down one hill and in front of us were blankets of Virginia Bluebells, Anemone, Spring Beauties and Trillium....it was absolutely spectacular! I was astounded to see Wild Ginger growing in thick clumps right next to Dutchman's Breeches and Jack in the Pulpit. It seemed everywhere we turned we were finding more and more in bloom! My kind of day!

My fish have been moved into the outdoor pond (thanks to Melinda) and are fun to watch. We bought them when they were about 4 inches long and now they're 10 inches and lovingly referred to as 'pigs' since they eat so much. We have to catch them using a butterfly net! The dog thinks they're a hoot and the cats are already getting 'that look' in their eyes....trouble is on the way. Last year, a neighbor's cat fell in the pond trying to catch dinner...chuckle

I was able to move my patio furniture outside and study under the umbrella. Bob was mocking me (gently) from the kitchen window but there is no way I am going to be stuck inside when it's beautiful...I'm an outdoor person and will be until I'm incapable of dragging myself out!

Rainy Outside but Feeling Great Inside!

It's amazing what a simple phone call can do to my outlook on life!

"God does not ask us to do great things, only small things with great love" Mother Teresa.

Here's to many years of small things!

Where Did The Weekend Go???

I paid the price this weekend for my penchant for gardening.... With three quarters of my backyard eco-friendly (no grass, perennial plants), I spent my entire weekend removing cover from my plants, cleaning the pond, replacing filters, pruning deadwood, cleaning bird feeders and bird baths, putting up my windchimes (10 at last count....love those windchimes!) and trying to convince the animals that I am not on this earth solely to scratch their backs!

Libby spent most of Saturday laying in the sun in the garden on her back after she ate a sprouting catnip plant to the ground. Toad stalked birds and luckily was unsuccessful in her endeavors....thanks in part to my making noise when she got close to my feathered friends. Cassie tried to be invisible so the squirrels would come down out of the trees...hard to do if you're an 85 lbs dog. :-)

Set up my telescope to watch an interesting sight..... Found a woodpeckers nest which is being used by a pair of American Sparrows.....who are raising a cowbird. Gotta love those cowbirds....lay your egg in another birds nest and let the other bird raise it!

Blacksburg

Had dinner with friends last night and came home with many conflicting thoughts....

The tragic assault on the student at Virginia Tech was appalling ... no doubt about it and the rush by various news agencies to peer into the souls of the grieving families turns my stomach. Likewise, the vultures among us who are fascinated by the shooter, an obviously tormented and severely mentally ill young man.

During dinner last night, I realized my reaction is not the norm. Yes, I feel immense sadness for the families and the tragedy of those lives cut short but I also feel immense sadness for the shooter. Caught deep in his delusional psychosis, so many warning signs ineffectively handled, he was a time bomb waiting to happen. I can only pray that our merciful God can heal his heart and ours.

As I drifted off to sleep last night, my thoughts ....we (Americans) are so preoccupied with these random and sporadic episodes of violence and continue to dwell on 9/11.

What would we do if we lived in a place where everyday 15 - 150 people die??? (Sudan, Iraq, etc.) We need to look outside our country to put this event in perspective.

Hopefully, my next post will be more upbeat....