Driving through Northern California in the rain, approaching the Shasta National Forest, my eyes were drawn (more like yanked) from the road as two golden eagles swooped in low over the freeway. Time seemed to slow for those few seconds that they were flapping wildly, apparently paying no attention to the speeding cars below. I was mesmerized, but the moment was broken by my mom's exclamation: "Those birds were so big!!!!". I laughed. She'd seen them too, as if anyone could have missed them. Her excitement was yet another reminder of where my own enthusiasm comes from. I proceeded to tell her everything I knew about the raptors and we remained in awe for awhile. Back on land, for the past month or so, I have been getting my wildlife "fix" by searching for birds of prey at all times. Not just eagles, but I get overly excited every time I see an American Kestrel or a Peregrine Falcon. Maybe too excited?
I hadn't thought so until I was back in the car with a friend on the Central Coast, when I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk perched stoically on the top of a lone pine. It was my first "spot" of the day and I may have shouted. My friend smirked. "There are hawks evvvvrywhere, you know." She was obviously not impressed. I was slightly annoyed. Sure, there's nothing like the first time you see something, but that doesn't mean the 200th time you see it, you're over it! I decided to keep the rest of my sightings to myself.
About a week later, I was on the road again (alone this time), when I had to stop abruptly to avoid hitting a man standing in the middle of it with an expensive-looking camera. I followed his lens up to the top of a telephone pole where it was focused on a turkey vulture. The bird had his wings spread out and was equally focused on its audience. I heard a short sigh escape my mouth that clearly expressed my feeling of impatience. It's just a turkey vulture, I thought. As I swerved around him and looked back at him in my rearview mirror, subconsciously hoping he'd realize how silly he was and get back in his car. I saw the vulture fly away and the man's camera drop from his face to reveal a look I was all too familiar with.
I had to laugh at myself for being a hypocrite. Maybe the novelty of things can wear off, even for me. The previously cliche saying that 'one man's trash is another man's treasure', now made sense. His vulture was my hawk or my mom's eagle. While you may not go out and buy a book about ground squirrels to find a reason not to overlook them after reading this, at least for me, I am going to try and be grateful that there are wild things that are common. After all, it seems that only when they are rare do we really understand why they are worth appreciating.
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| Juvenile Red-tailed hawk |
