I mind my feet while on walks these days because I live in a rural area. There are no sidewalks and often there is no place to walk but on a narrow street. However, every now and then I stop and look skyward . . . At the clouds, at the moon, at a passing plane and sometimes, at a bird on a wire.
I stopped to observe this fellow for a while. Still as a statue was he. And then I continued on with my walk.
One of my neighbors had a curious pile of stones sitting in his delightfully overgrown garden. Perhaps the resting place of a favorite fur baby? Who knows. Otherwise the neighborhood is typically suburban. I can’t prove that to you because, as I’ve complained about before, most of my neighbors have cameras mounted on their garages or over their front doors taking nonstop of pictures of anything that moves. I’m just paranoid enough to imagine seeing my face flashed all over social media with the caption “Do you know this sick pervert taking pictures of my front yard?”
Things have gotten quite nuts as I’m sure most of you would agree.
On my way back home I noticed the hawk was still perched on the wire but not for long. Before I could adjust my camera (iPhone) on him, he’d swooped down into a garden, thrashed about a few minutes and then returned triumphant. This time facing me proudly clutching his prey.
Yes, I know. Poor snake. Hissing and striking at the hawk to no avail. The hawk, bidding his time, takes time to pose.
Then returns to the task of preparing a meal. It’s a sad business but to live we all must eat.
I decided not to watch final scene but continue on.
To mind my feet as I returned along a rural path.
Saying nothing in particular 
Beautiful hawk. They must have great vision to spot snakes! I too walk on uneven gravel for most of my route. There are very few sidewalks. I sometimes get a little dizzy when I look up, so I’m careful not to tip my head too far back. The older I get, the more I worry about falling!
I know what you mean – that happens to me as well.
Creatures feeding upon other creatures. That’s the set-up on our planet.
It sure is. I wish it weren’t true but we’re all sort of stuck with the system.
incredibly symbolic. Ancient duality of good and evil. Ask Duke about the Mexican coat of arms.
Duke is currently making videos with some Hollywood sort so who knows what his next adventure will be. I hear it’s mostly AI.
What a great hawk sighting. You are so lucky.
We have a lot of hawks in the valley – the other day I saw a group of them showing off in the sky – mating season no doubt! But they’re generally too far or fast to capture on my little iPhone with my limited technical abilities!
It’s really hard to get good pictures of birds.
Best not to step on a snake! xx
That I have almost done many times!
Reminds me of Robert Frost.
Thanks Duke. One of the first books given to me was a book of his poetry “You come too” which I still have.
Those are wonderful hawk pics!
Thanks.I’m not so sure the snake would agree!
That was amazing Jan thank you 💜💜
I’m glad you liked it Willow. It’s a good idea to look skyward every now and then!
it definitely is as long as we keep our feet safely planted 💜💜
Nice shots of that hawk. Too bad for the snake, though. It needs to be faster next time. You know, I used to be concerned about cameras in homes all over the country, but my goodness, they are very useful when solving crimes. We even get notifications from law enforcement about missing children asking neighbors to check their cameras. It’s sad that we’ve come to that, but they are definitely saving lives and helping solve crimes.
That snake won’t be getting a second chance – I looked back and the hawk was already ripping it apart.
Well, at least the hawk is happy.
Not a fan of those cameras either, JT. Yes, they can help find lost dogs, but they also can find us doing absolutely nothing wrong. Now they have the glasses that will tell everything about you to whomever is wearing them and we won’t even know it’s being done. Grrrrr!
Love the hawk, though. 😘
There’s this neighborhood watch group in the area and they’re always posting pictures of suspicious people. To me it’s gotten way out of hand.
I agree.
‘Look up.’ I always tell people to ‘look up’ because it’s often more interesting than looking straight ahead into the future.
Doorbells with cameras seem to be all the rage here in the UK. But I do miss the chimes of the old-fashioned doorbell.
I have a friend who loves to watch the overnight videos her door camera takes – mostly deer, coyote, skunks and every now and then a mountain lion! I think I’d rather not know! The old ding dongs were delightful … as were the party lines!
A lovely walkabout. I do love to look up at birds, the sky, but I have a propensity to trip so I am constantly lifting / lowering my head. I know I look strange, but there you go. I love your photos of a sunny day walk, especially the birds!
It very easy to trip in my neighborhood – no sidewalks and the road is uneven! I’m sure you don’t look any odder than me!
Lucky day. You managed to spot a hawk at a successful hunt, and take photos too. I’m not familiar with the hawks of the US. Is it a juvenile black hawk?
My iPhone identified him as a red-shouldered hawk although I didn’t see any red on him. I have no idea how old he was! I love birds but I haven’t really studied them.
“Like a bird on a wire…”
I’m sure Cohen was probably talking about a much smaller and less deadly bird!
Most likely…
(You do walk on the left side of the road, since there are no sidewalks?)
One side of the road (northside actually) has a drainage canal for run off from the hills – and so I walk on the southside.
Good. Better safe than sorry.
I feel you. People are strange when you’re a stranger….
It’s a wonderful world, though. Not everyone enjoys it the way you do, so keep up the great work.
If you don’t think in terms of being solely human than it becomes an experience – better or worse than the alternative – we just can only guess. Hope you and yours are doing well!
Doing my best, against all odd, J. Just spilled my brains on the paper….
You wrote another book?