Broad-winged Hawk in pen.

I went for a Barn Owl counting bike ride tonight in between spending time on some raptor drawings. I didn’t see any owls, but I did see two deer and rode 10 miles of gravel roads in the dark.

I saw a bunch of Broad-winged Hawks while in Michigan last summer with my Father. Driving down some logging roads one afternoon. Five in one clearing. We stopped and watched one perched in a tree 40 feet away on our left. It was perched much like this one, looking back at us with some concerned curiosity.

Some song lyrics in my head today,

“Hang your heart on laughing willow,
Stray down to the water,
Deep Sea of Love.

Beneath the sweet calm face of the sea,
Swift undertow.

Life may be sweeter for this, I don’t know,
See how it feels in the end.
May Lady Lullaby sing plainly for you,
Soft, strong, sweet and true.

Red-tail Hawk in flight.

…..Gone are the days we stopped to decide,
Where we should go,
We just ride.

Gone are the broken eyes we saw through in dreams,
Gone – both dream and lie.”

-Robert Hunter, The Grateful Dead.