Raptor Rapture

No camera with me at the time and anyway my angle and the steely cast to the morning wouldn’t have resulted in good imagery even if I’d been equipped. But a few moments ago while I was putting the trash cans out for pick-up I heard the telltale “laugh” of a Cooper’s hawk above me and I looked up just in time to see one dive into the camphor tree over our front yard and dang if there wasn’t another Cooper’s hawk that had been roosting there all along (with a couple doves who didn’t know any better).

With a cackle it relinquished its seat and the doves finally clued up and got the hell outta there and all  flew off in different directions and out of view as the intruding hawk alighted on the branch, glancing down at me but its attentions were clearly more focused on yet another smaller Cooper’s that came into view and circled a bit haphazardly over the tree before deciding to land atop the nearest utility pole across the street, where it stayed putwith a few feathers sticking up out of place, all big eyes on the bigger bird awaiting its next orders.

And after about 15 seconds of me standing in the middle of the street not caring at all that I was looking the fool by looking skyward while ooooing and ahhing and wowing and ohmygawding, the first hawk took off northward and the second one fell in close behind it and I watched them until I couldn’t see them anymore.

My guess is it was a momma hawk out on a teaching expedition with her baby.

Awesome.