A Hawk Sighting

It's still chilly, cloudy and misty. I moved all seeds from the back picnic table during the day, but I put some out at night for the raccoon twins. When they climb onto the light it triggers the motion sensor on the back door light and for some reason, I think they like this. They spend a lot of time sitting on that table while momma eats on my back porch, watching them through the doorway. So, before I go to bed, I put some seeds out on the table. I moved the bird bath to the table outside the den where the sparrows play during the day, but I kept a small dish of water on the back picnic table for the raccoons.

My goal was to discourage birds and squirrels from sitting on the table because I think this makes them targets for the hawk. I thought I was successful because I haven't seen the hawk for five days. However, as he was driving up the drive this evening, the hawk flew in front of my husband's truck, very low, in front of the windshield so Steve could get a clear view. I think he was trying to let us know this is his territory and he intends to stay.

Unfortunately, after I found the pile of feathers indicating the hawk had eaten one of the rare white-winged doves, I have not seen another white-winged dove on the property. This fall, we had a flock of ten or twelve of them. I doubt the hawk got them all. They have most likely moved on to safer grounds.

My neighbor was burning wood in his yard a few days ago and I noticed he seemed to be upsetting the birds in the trees on the other side of the creek on our property. They were making quite the racket and flying from tree to tree. What surprised me was how many of them were over there at the time. I was also surprised that they didn't simply fly into the forest behind our property and wait for the smoke to clear. It was so noisy, it was almost as if they were yelling at him. It made me wonder if maybe there are birds on that side preparing nests already.

Although it does seem early, there are signs of spring. The early bulbs are popping up and I have one daffodil and three bluebonnets blooming on the property, which doesn't seem like much considering we live on four acres, but they are signs of spring!