birdie

I wasn't sure of the species until a pro golfer took aim recently and killed one. When it was reported to be a Red Shouldered Hawk that interrupted the golfer's videotaping, I knew that its distinctive call contributed to the culprit's downfall. For over a year, I've watched but mostly heard several of these birds reigning in the woods and over the stream behind our house.

On Saturday, while I was monitering stormy weather from the sunporch and phoning our son near downtown Atlanta to take shelter in his laundry room, two of these large colorful creatures swooped within inches of the window. They lit together on a nearby tree limb long enough for me to call my husband away from the tv news report. As we watched, one glided to a lower limb while the other proceeded to chip away at what it held between its talons.

24 hours later and several miles away, as we hiked from the church building to a nearby sports arena where we had parked the car, we heard the piercing call and spied its silhouette high in a leafless tree.