I was sitting in the garden enjoying lunch in the sunbreak between rain
squalls when through the gap in the bushes a fast moving accipter flew 6
feet over my head, intent on one of the pair of Robins by the apple tree
about 20 feet away. The robins both took off in opposite directions, but way
too slow. The hawk took after the one that was heading around the house. I
jumped up, spilling my lunch in all directions and ran as fast as I could
around the corner of the house to see....nothing. I carefully walked all
the way into the woods in bare feet, and found no body, no feathers, not a
thing. I backtracked and walked along the edges of the brush in my neighbors
yard, no signs of feathers either. I was surprised because the robin was so
slow starting I was sure the hawk must have got it not far from around the
corner out of my view.

I went back to the house, put on some shoes and did a thorough search of the
forest edges and even well into the forest. As I searched I found myself
rooting for the robin. The forest yeilded no feathers so I backtracked
again, this time stooping way over. I found what I was looking far, about
where I would expect the hit to occur, 4 small feathers which I missed on
the first pass. Standing up I scanned all the trees again to no avail.
Wherever the hawk was secretly plucking its meal was not around here. I was
going to give up and go clean up my lunch from the patio when the distinct
alarm calls of a Robin made me look up. The hawk, or another one, came
lazily through the trees, such a different demeanor from the fast moving
death on the wing I had seen previously. The hawk, a coopers, slowly wove in
and out of the alders, then it circled back up and found a thermal and began
rising, slowly circling over my neighbors house. Assuming it was the same
bird I saw earlier it could not have plucked the robin so quickly and I
smiled, thankful for the sunshine, the hawk, and the robin who lived another
day. I guessed the feathers were a sign of a close call, unless of course
there were two hawks in the neighborhood and I was lucky enough to see them
both?

Since the sun was out, and my lunch was attracting slugs, I gave up on my
macbre pursuits and returned to the garden patio to watch the towhees dance
in the shrubbery.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish County, WA

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