Sky Dance

A pair of red-shouldered hawks came over the back yard this morning in full courtship mode. Screeching like gulls (red-shouldered hawks are among the most vocal of all the raptors), with translucent wingtips back lit against the sky in bright crescents, they spiraled about a common center, higher and higher until they were barely visible. At the apex of the spiral, the smaller male broke off and, with wings in the classic "M" bird configuration (think first graders' drawings), dropped like a hammer. He leveled off at tree-top level, searched out the female to make sure she was paying attention, and started the whole sequence anew. They spiraled up one last time and flew off with deep wing beats. All the squirrels in the yard had frozen against the boles of trees until the hawks were out of sight. They needn't have worried; dalliance, not lunch was uppermost in the hawks' minds.