I live in the middle of a good sized city, 1/2 a million people on the shore of Lake Ontario. My wife and I rent an apartment just a couple blocks off the core strip of downtown businesses and attractions. There are a number of apartment dwellings in my neighborhood, an easy half dozen are visible from our balcony.
We're lucky in that our neighborhood is still very green despite its high population density... lots of trees & shrubs that support a large number of various songbird species. (and the buildings are home to pigeons of course) As smokers, we're out on the balcony quite a bit and have seen numerous different species of birds from there. It's a pretty cool place to live. Everything from blue jays, to sparrows, to peregrine falcons have flown by our window.
Last summer a red-tailed hawk began cruising the skies over our neighborhood. After a few days of fly-bys he started sitting on the top-most ledge on an apartment building a couple blocks to the south of us. He looks real impressive sitting up there surveying the area and when he flies! Wow. How can one's own spirit not soar when privy to such a beautiful sight as a red-tailed hawk on the wing.
In December of 2011 he was again on his regular perch but had another hawk perched nearby. This is pretty exciting stuff! Could this be the start of a relationship? Is it possible our original hawk neighbor has decided his building is a good place to raise a brood and he brought a potential mate to check it out?
How awesome would that be, having red-tailed hawks nesting within site of our living room?
With neighbors like that, who cares what troubles the world. To see such a magnificent creature from the warmth of my own home makes my spirit soar.
Enough to return to this blog which I've ignored for months just to tell someone, anyone about it.
2012 is gonna be a great year!
