Enraptured by raptors and an award, too

Who's a pretty boy, then?

I have a number of bird feeders in the back yard. During the cold months I like to see the little guys well-stoked on foodstuffs otherwise they die of hypothermia if they can’t get sufficient provender.

I also have the feeders because I like to watch all the little sparrows, chickadees, juncos, towhees, house finches Stellar’s jays and so forth as they flutter around the feeders and the alphas battle the betas for dominance. Finally, I have the feeders in hopes of attracting something rarer than the commonplace. And, I’ve had a few, a lazuli bunting, a few semi-resident flickers, and even a pileated woodpecker.

Yesterday I got a prize.

I was sitting reading in the living room in the mid-afternoon when something caught the corner of my eye. I looked over towards the grape arbor outside the dining room window, and there he was: A large and amazingly impressive Cooper’s Hawk. He was a magnificent specimen.

Hey, I thought, the feeders do double duty. They feed the little birdies in the cold months and, aha, they also act as bait! Trolling raptors can come and scope the scene and then take their pick. Nature in the raw is much more difficult than this setting out of an avian smorgasbord.

I suppose part of my problem in this regard is that I really like the esthetics of raptors. Bloodthirsty carnivores they might be, but they look so magnificent and they’re such astute killing machines.

I like them all, and like them more because I know that they, like all big predators, are threatened. Raptors are among the smartest of our avian fauna and are also possessed of amazing instincts and eyesight. Fortunately, living where I do, they are around in abundance, though the Cooper’s Hawk was a rare treat. Our regular visiting hawks are the little and very pretty sparrow hawks, also known as the American Kestrel.

But, what we mainly have is eagles. Bald Eagles. Bald Eagles as common as sparrows and so ubiquitous that we rarely look when they are aloft above one unless they are doing something dramatic, like being engaged in alpha male conflict with another of the species.

So, sorry, little birdies, but I have to make room for the hawks, too.

On an unrelated topic, I got an award. And it shows cute li'l penguins rather than big, mean predators. It was given to me by the wonderful, creative and very courageous and sometimes heroic Diane at Merely Me. She said very flattering things about me and I am not vain enough to repeat them here (you’ll have to check her blog if you are curious.)

In fact, check her blog, anyway. It is brilliant and it shows how one very gutsy broad deals with things that would make many of us just fold our tents rather than offering excellent life hints for others who suffer from assorted afflictions. So, knowing some of her realities, I feel doubly-honored to get an award from her.