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Wild Kingdom
Posted on 2008.12.02 at 18:56
Well, to give the whole story, I'm sick. Sore throat, want to sleep, that kinda thing. I went by campus health today, and was lucky enough to get an appointment right away. I have a virus, there's not treatment except for treating the symptoms. If I rest, it will go away. No big deal.
Walking back from the student health center, though, I saw a blur of brown and white moving past my head. A large hawk, probably a red-tailed hawk, was flying low through the campus. She perched on a branch, maybe twenty feet in the air, and I stopped to watch her. She stared back, infinitely wild, watching me with the interest of a survivor. Worried that I would disturb her, I started to move on.
Another flash of brown-- she flew directly over my head, flying flat and fast into the trees. I lost sight of her for a second; the next moment, I saw something fall out of the tree the hawk had been flying at. The hawk dove with the squirrel, keeping pace with its falling body perfectly, finally landing strangely gently on top of the little tree-dweller.
I looked around. No one else had even noticed the bird-- easily the size of a man's head-- flying so close by, much less witnessed this bloody everyday miracle. The hawk sat there for what seemed like a long time, presumably squeezing the squirrel, making sure that it couldn't hurt her when it thrashed. After a few minutes, she started to eat.
Walking back from the student health center, though, I saw a blur of brown and white moving past my head. A large hawk, probably a red-tailed hawk, was flying low through the campus. She perched on a branch, maybe twenty feet in the air, and I stopped to watch her. She stared back, infinitely wild, watching me with the interest of a survivor. Worried that I would disturb her, I started to move on.
Another flash of brown-- she flew directly over my head, flying flat and fast into the trees. I lost sight of her for a second; the next moment, I saw something fall out of the tree the hawk had been flying at. The hawk dove with the squirrel, keeping pace with its falling body perfectly, finally landing strangely gently on top of the little tree-dweller.
I looked around. No one else had even noticed the bird-- easily the size of a man's head-- flying so close by, much less witnessed this bloody everyday miracle. The hawk sat there for what seemed like a long time, presumably squeezing the squirrel, making sure that it couldn't hurt her when it thrashed. After a few minutes, she started to eat.