[va-richmond-general] Harrowing Hawks!

I have to tell you all about the extraordinary thing that happened to me today.
Driving home from the fitness center, I was on Midlothian Turnpike, heading 
east.  I'd gotten to where the intersection at the Steinmart shopping mall and 
the car dealerships are, and what should I see in the road, but 2 scant yards 
from the front of my car?  A bird.  Not just any bird, either:  a large 
Red-tailed Hawk.  The hawk had landed nearly in the middle of the intersection 
because there was a squashed scrap of animal which had been killed 
recently...and she wanted it.  

Terrified that she, too, was about to be squashed what with people blowing down 
Midlothian Turnpike with jack-rabbit starts and slam-the-brakes stops, I 
doubted that 1) anyone saw her, and 2) if they did, they could have cared less 
about her and would have gone about their driving and if she didn't fly out of 
the way, too bad for her...I did the only thing I could do:  I blocked my lane 
with my car, threw it in park with my flashers on, and got out of the car.  I 
jogged up to her, waving my arms, shooing her out of the intersection...she 
flew up and onto a little tree in the median, and then up on the traffic 
signals.  There she sat, eyeing the squished tidbit that'd almost meant her own 
life.  I had by that time driven a few yards down the road, did a U-turn, and 
parked in the median, just behind the traffic signal array she was perched on.  
I got out and watched.  Again, when the traffic slowed up, she dove down and 
looked over her potential morsel, and again, as traffic approached, I went out 
in the intersection and shooed her away.

This time she flew up on the signals on the other side of the intersection.  
She watched me, along with all the motorists (who likely thought I was short of 
a full deck, but too bad for them), and I watched her.  When the traffic slowed 
again, I broke a branch off a bush and went out into the intersection, speared 
the squished animal (looked like a squirrel), running to her side of the road, 
depositing it onto the grass.  I looked up; she'd been watching.  

I ran back across the street and to my car.  She sat and watched for a while, 
and then, too my utter relief, she launched from the traffic light pole and up 
into the air, soaring away.

Feeling happy that there was not going to be squished raptor in the road, I 
continued on.  As I had an errand at the post office, I turned off onto Ruthers 
Road, and continued onto Pocoshock Boulevard toward the new post office off 
Lady Blair Drive.  What do I see, looking regal while perched on a power line 
as I near the post office?  An enormous Red-shouldered Hawk.  With no one 
behind me (and I do hope we have no police officers on the list..LOL), I backed 
the car up so I could get a good gawk in, and then slowly and begrudgingly 
drove on when a car came up behind me.

What a day!

Happy Holidays,

Irene in Southside (where apparently the Hawks reign supreme!)


You are subscribed to VA-Richmond-General. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-richmond-general-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject 
field. To adjust other settings (vacation, digest, etc.) please visit, 
http://www.freelists.org/list/va-richmond-general.

Other related posts: