The Hawk Is Back, A Better Predictor of Winter Than the Weatherman

This morning, I got up at 3 am, my usual time. The house was just a tad bit warmer than usual for some reason. Listening for outside noises soon told me why. A strong, warm wind had come in ahead of a supposed major snow storm due this weekend. Our local weather forecasters can rarely predict what is going to happen next so it is always a surprise when I look outside. I know there it's going to be actual snow but I'm never certain when.

Over years of practice I have gotten fairly good at predicting the weather on my own. I’ll bet I have at least as good a track weather as anyone who gets paid for it. And when that warm wind comes roaring in this time of year, there will most assuredly be cold and precipitation folloowed closely behind.

The garden has been put to bed for the winter, except for a few bags of mulch that need to get out, this weekend. I always leave the seed heads on the perennials so the birds can have something to different to eat than what I put out for them everyday, so I don't need to cut them back. Speaking of putting out bird seed, I have not had to fill the feeders in the back yard for five days in a row now. I discovered the reason a couple of days ago, even though I had already suspected it. The hawk has come down out of the mountains and is hunting around the neighborhood feeders.

The other day, I happened to catch a glimpse of him as he swooped into the apple tree. He blends in remarkably well. The wind that day was quite strong and I actually saw him get blown onto another branch behind him. He stumbled a bit but held on and then flew back up to the branch he had been perched on. It was quite funny to see this majestic bird get knocked around.

I didn’t see him catch any birds, which is perfectly fine with me. It seems the Finches and Sparrows have already been alerted to the fact that he is around.