Ali what a beautiful story. Very touching. Jo
Jo Lafayette [log in to unmask]
On Tuesday, August 6, 2019, 08:27:31 AM EDT, Eugenia Cooke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Lovely, lovely. I hope he recovers and thrives.
On Mon, Aug 5, 2019, 5:42 PM Betty Holton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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> Thank you Ali. That was beautiful ..
>
> On Sun, 4 Aug 2019 21:47:56 -0400, alison wagner <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
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> Dear Birders, Please read if you'd like:
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>
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> Are you the Goshawk?
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> A neighbor called me to say she had “possibly an owl” in her yard and she
> was sure it wasn’t okay. It had been on the ground for a few hours and not
> moving. So I grabbed a sewing machine-sized box and a baby-sized light
> blanket and headed to her house. What I found was this gorgeous predator.
> We approached very slowly from behind. I didn’t think he could see me well
> as his behavior didn’t change when he turned to face me. Tough leather
> gloves gave me little reassurance as I approached him, but he was as docile
> as a chicken. A trip-to-VINS-later, he was examined and determined to be
> underweight, “not well for awhile” (bent tail feathers indicated he’d been
> on the ground a while) and I believe they said “plaque spots” in his eyes.
> The diagnosis is West Nile Disease and they will do what they can.
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> All the way to VINS, I thought about this hawk and the many opportunities
> I’ve had experiencing this species in Huntington. I feel like I know this
> bird.
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> Who are you? Are you the Goshawk I sometimes see flying over the
> Huntington River? Are you a direct descendant, one of the many chicks
> raised in the forest near “Gail’s Cabin” at the Birds of Vermont Museum? Or
> maybe you are the parent that nested there. One time a friend of mine was
> terrified as he was chased through those woods, away from your territory.
> Do you recall that ever happening? The way my friend described his escape
> reminded me of an old fashioned cowboy gun fight, with the fleeing cowboy
> ducking behind a rock and looking ahead for the next place to take cover.
> Look, choose, run, dive. My friend scrambled on his hands and knees, diving
> behind berry bushes to avoid your nasty talons. Did you do that, terrify my
> friend? Perhaps you are the handsome bird that sometimes perches at the
> edge of my yard, looking to pick up some fast food. If so, remember the
> time I saw you perched as I drove my car down the driveway? I got out of
> the car to get a better look...and one look from you told me to get back in
> the car and close the door. Last year I recorded a father Goshawk calling
> in the forest in Granville. His chicks responded in the distance. Your tone
> told me I should not walk any further down the path when out of “no where”
> you flew over my head and perched in front of me. No, that couldn’t have
> been you...but I bet a distant relative for sure. Maybe you’re the guy that
> made the adrenaline shoot through my body one wintry day several years ago
> as I was snowshoeing down the steep hillside behind my house...your bone
> chilling calls inspired me to step faster. Or perhaps you’re the offspring
> of the Goshawk I see circling the skies above Camels Hump State Forest. You
> know, the southern part of the park off route 17? Most likely you are the
> same bird I counted on a Christmas Bird Count in the neighborhood just
> north of where I picked you up today. All these places may just be
> pins-of-encounters with a male Northern Goshawk, coincidentally in a
> straight line on a map. A line along the high foothills paralleling the
> Green Mountain Range’s peaks. Are you one and the same guy? Because I know
> you. You are my neighbor.
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> I hope he recovers and I can bring him home.
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> Ali Wagner
>
> Huntington
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>
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