A Hawkish Visit
The farm is the best place to meet all other inhabitants that coexist with us. When circling almost the same route daily ( I believe in the 10,000 steps approach to fitness), even with the ever curious and very noisy Vizsla as the companion, I encounter so many of them: a small deer that was on a mission to meet us (link), a young bird that flew from the nest probably the first time and landed on the field in front of me for the photo session and, most recently, a hawk.
We have a fully enclosed area, where we grow berries - the net on top is supposed to protect the raspberries, blackberries and other berries from ever-hungry feathered thieves. Sometimes doves find their way inside and Leda (our dog) will happily chase them around until the birds figure out how to flee through the door that I hold wide open for them. This time it was a hawk!
Well, I can tell you that the hawk, even in such a dire situation, was quite intimidating. What really surprised me was the way he positioned himself when, trying to fly up, he hit the top net. He was hanging upside down! I googled this behavior later - why on earth he was playing the menacing parrot? Internet consensus is that when the branch - or in this case, the net - on which the heavy bird lands is too thin, the bird will hang with the head down to balance himself.
The dog's barking did not bother him a bit. When he landed on the ground, he looked rather fearsome - the dog knew better than to challenge him. I kept the door open and took the dog out - shortly after he flew out, still looking furious. Goodbye, red tailed hawk!
