This year I have really gotten into big birds, mostly raptors. It started with watching a couple of eagle cams online. Then came a falcon nest outside the window at the Evanston library. There was an eagle nest that blew down during a storm in the spring and the eaglets were raised at a Barrington rehab center and released at Starved Rock State Park in late summer. This fall there was a snowy owl (not often seen in our area) which was hit by a car and treated at a local DuPage County rehab center and then released at a forest preserve. Now people are seeing bald eagles flying over the Fox River in Elgin. Again a library is involved as these eagles are viewed from a window in the reading room through binoculars provided by the library.
So I was thrilled to see a hawk flying over my neighborhood every once in a while. Then I started noticing a hawk perched in a tree in our forest preserve about a mile from my house. This morning I decided if I could see it perched, I would stop. And there it was, perched in a tree right by the parking lot. I got out of my car to walk a little closer and possibly identify which kind it was-red tail or red shoulder or broad wing -and it flew up and away, but not very far. As I watched, my hawk was joined by a second and then a third. How beautiful. They were soaring right overhead, around and around together. After five minutes, one peeled off and went east. The remaining two circled overhead for a few more minutes, then went their separate ways. It reminded me of the song from "Oklahoma" about watching "the hawk making lazy circles in the sky". I will be stopping there often now to keep an eye on "my hawks". Note:this forest preserve is across the road from an alpaca farm. I love to drive by and see the alpacas out in their yard. They are so sweet looking.