Hawk on my Boulevard

This hawk was sitting in the silver maple tree on our boulevard for about twenty minutes on Saturday afternoon. Shawn and I suspect s/he was after the pigeons that like to roost on the window above our side door and poop copiously (we've seen evidence in the past of someone's successful hunting). What was fascinating to me was how quiet the songbirds were until I accidentally scared him/her away when I went out the back to take out the garbage. It was like we all watched the hawk in silent awe, and then after s/he left suddenly there was joyous cheeping!

Perhaps you can tell by reading my books, but I love to add moments like this into my narrative. There are always animals intruding into Garnet's storylines (and not just when she's being stalked by werewolves.) I think that's because, growing up in a semi-rural middle-sized town in Wisconsin, animals were always making themselves known to me. Bats and nighthawks chased mosquitos during the summer months. Purple martins, kingfishers, egrets and red-wing blackbirds hunted the marsh. Even in the winter, when everything seems so desolate, you might see something like this awesome, predatory bird....