We have a family of hawks that nest near our
house each winter. Sometime in January or February we start seeing
their shadows cross our yard, then we occasionally hear them.
-
This year, they are using a nearly-dead tree
right beside our house as their outlook post. (It was hit by lightning a
couple of years ago, then the hurricanes of 2004 really gave it a
beating. It it basically the trunk and 2 or 3 limbs.)My hubby and I have been trying for days to
get a good pic, but to no avail. This is the best we could do so far.
Isn't
he cool – at least I think this is the dad! They are
so well camouflaged, they are hard to see. We're going to try this
weekend to get some really good shots.Doug said he saw one of them take on a buzzard twice their
size today. And the hawk won! Just dove right down on him in the sky
and sent him hurdling in the opposite direction.I can't wait until their eggs hatch. You can
actually watch them as they teach their babies to hunt – in our
backyard! One year I watched one of the babies catch what I'm assuming
was a mouse right at the edge of our property. So cool!They are soooooooo noisy, too, when the
babies are first hatched. You can hear the parents crying out to the
babies and then they answer in this high-pitched version of the parents
cry. These parents work hard to train their hatchlings
how to live and work.Even
when our human babies are small we, as parents, start teaching our
children the life skills they need to survive. We let them wander
further and further from our nest all the while calling out to them,
reminding them of our presence, of our beliefs, or our foundations.I don't know why so many parents today think
parenting is easy, and then when it gets a little rough, they wimp out
and allow the child to control the home. We are not loving truly when
we allow that with our little ones. We are loving self more than loving
the child enough to do what is best.Parenting is hard, and it's about sometimes making the hard
decisions. But it is ultimately the most rewarding job of all – when
we can send them out from the nest and know that they can survive on
their own.The daddy hawk
tends to sit on our back fence while the little ones are playing in the
yard. He always looks so proud! The mama is usually flitting from baby
to baby, I'm sure checking to see that they are warm enough, finding
enough food, and reminding them of how to catch the tastiest treat.We busy mamas need to learn to sit back
occasionally and just watch…and be proud of our offspring. Take a
break today and be marveled by the miracles that are your children.Alesha
