My first encounter with the hawk

it was in 1999 while living on centre street, one morning in the fall as i stepped from the front "porch" (small concrete slab in front of the door LOL) and headed to the car, a hawk came swooping down between the car and me, landing on top of the utility pole in the neighbor's yard. i felt the air rush between us and saw the flecks of yellow in its eyes - it was an experience that i have never forgotten and since then, i am always eager to see "my" hawk again. it seems to have appeared to me at different times in my life when i needed an answer or reassurance that i'm doing the right thing. there have been owls and herons and cranes and many other smaller birds that i encounter every day and with which i have been taken by their beauty but there is something about the the hawk. i now know there is a nesting pair near the falls and their presence is constant. i have doubted its significance and yet find myself seeking it out - for comfort? for security? i'm not sure. i hoped to see "my" hawk while in the yucatan but never did although we did come across a pair of majestic owls while wandering the ruins at Uxmel.


  Cooper's Hawk