by Nancy Lee Moran
What does the end of summer mean to you?
A Hawk Tale
A wonder happened as I was strolling in our small town with my husband. Near sunset as we passed by our church, Bill tugged my arm. I followed his gaze to see a hawk perching on the railing of the steps leading up to the church door. The size of a rooster, it stood erect, pivoting its regal head almost in circles. Appearing calm and poised, it ignored us as we stood still for about ten minutes. We had never been within fifty feet of a bird of prey, much less as close as ten feet, near enough to see its feather textures. I felt awe.
My favorite time of this summer:
Some mornings, as the sun was beginning to dry dew from the grass, I scattered bird seed on our patio and sat under a shade tree fifteen feet away. Soon about twenty birds would settle in to eat. Two pair of morning doves, whenever alarmed, would lift off with much clamoring coo-coo-co-coo, whistling, and wing-clapping ~ scattering the other birds, too. Many sparrows and wrens flitted about. Usually four blue jays and a pair of cardinals joined in. And one young rabbit often rested in his favorite spot under a lily plant.
Here are links to the web pages about two paintings that mean Summer Days to me. I included the images here, also.
Red Petals (geraniums)
“Red Petals”
14 x 10 oil painting $680.00
at Lewis Art Gallery, phone 1-800-306-7733
Limited-Edition Print Available, too
Click image to see web page of this art.
Abundance (wheelbarrow)
“Abundance”
24 x 18 oil painting $1840.00
at Lewis Art Gallery, phone 1-800-306-7733
Limited-Edition Print Available, too
Click image to see web page of this art.
A Hawk Tale, Continued
April 2010
A hawk, probably the same one, has been hunting in my yard this spring. Though usually a country bird, it may visit large back yards. I live a couple blocks from the edge of town, near some pasture land and rolling hills. My husband and I planted a row of upright arbor vitae evergreens many years ago, about eighty of them. (See lower on this page for arbor vitaes.) Once eight inches tall and spindly, they have grown to a height of twenty feet, have become a shelter belt and nesting site for many birds.
Going into the back yard one afternoon, I startled the hawk, which sat beneath the evergreens eating a mourning dove. While graceful in flight, it seemed clumsy as it ambled out from under the branches and expanded its broad wings, lifting off with heavy wingbeats. Another day I found simply a pile of gray feathers. I realized it was a quick death (unlike death by prowling neighborhood cats) and that predators get hungry, too ~ but darn it! I felt like a co-conspirator, inviting birds to our patio with seed and suet, luring them into harm’s way. Our visitor is a red-tailed hawk, similar in size to a large rooster or small goose, it has a call like a piercing screeee. These hawks usually hunt mammals like rabbits and squirrels, rarely cats or dogs. Yet I am wondering, what about Abby, my papillon dog who is smaller than most cats!
A red-tailed hawk named Pale Male was one of the most famous residents of New York City, living on ornamental stonework high above affluent Manhattan.
Here is a link to his own Wikipedia page: Wikipedia page
The mourning doves come in pairs to gather seed on the patio. The pairs sit on the telephone wires each morning, as if awaiting the opening of the Birdseed Breakfast Patio Cafe. The color of olive-beige with some darker spots, they have plump bodies that taper into long slender tails. They and the sparrows seem to be the least wary of being near people. Since childhood, I have loved the soothing coos they emit, long sounds like laments, hence the name mourning. If you would like to hear the distinctive call, here is a link to the page on the Cornwell Lab of Ornithology (branch of zoology about birds, www.allaboutbirds.org), where you can press a button to hear its haunting call. I imagine you will recognize the sound of this very common bird.
Listen to mourning doves.
See pictures and and hear piercing cry of hawks.
Link to my favorite bird song of early spring, that of the Northern Cardinal. A pair nests in our yard and stays during winter, too.
The Beauty of Arbor Vitae conifers
I see the trees as graceful and lacy ornamentals, especially when winds of the Great Plains skim through them. My husband and I have pruned the old wood from ours to keep the trees more airy. Deer like to eat the foliage of this tree. Since arbor vitae prefer moist, rich soil, we put leaf and bark compost underneath ours, where we plant ferns, impatiens, hosta, and periwinkle (Vinca minor) there in the shade.
Here is one of my repainted dolls, Ekatrina, sitting beneath the arbor vitae trees in 2009, holding a sprig of dogwood. She has painted eyes, a new wig, and a Boneka smocked dress. |
Visit Ekatrina’s web page.
Here is a photo I took last autumn, from plants gathered in my yard. The main foliage behind the golden sea oats is arbor vitae. Outdoors, the sea oats bobbled in the breeze, as if nodding. As frosts arrived, the sea oats passed from green to bronze-glitter and colors of smokey leather. The arbor vitae, being a conifer, remained green during winter.
Visit Nancy’s webpage that has this image.
© Text and photos by Nancy Lee Moran USA
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