Cooper's Hawks: "A Year to Remember"
What message does Nature bring and what message do you hear?
Nearing the completion of a circle turn around the Sun.
The spirit of Nature moving through all and not understood.
What message does Nature bring and what message do you hear?
2024 has been my Year of the Cooper’s Hawk. I have been fortunate to have had many encounters with a local family of Cooper’s Hawks. My encounters with these hawks have changed how I see Nature, birds, and myself.
Below are my 2024 posts about my encounters with this family of Cooper’s Hawks.
January 2024:
Practice Patience
A dead tree offers opportunities to observe above.
Nearby alarm calls ring out as a warning of your presence.
Patience and perseverance are needed to help you daily.
February 2024:
Morning Snowfall
A snowy morning, large flakes falling silently on the lake.
Perched afar, a lone figure is watching the world intently.
The silence is broken by cries and the crunching of footfalls.
March 2024:
Morning Hawk
An overcast morning, silhouettes abound conceal colours.
Hidden treasures and dangers at the edges of our senses.
Watch and listen without judgement to know what is Natural.
Staking Claim
On the cusp of a new season, a couple prepares a home.
Both share claim to a small corner of Nature for a short time.
Their world narrows in focus: provide for new life to arrive.
April 2024:
Family Preparations
Perched high in the Pines, a family plans and prepares in Spring.
Days grow longer, warmer, and the family will be ready.
Ready to bring forth new lives and to continue Nature’s dance.
Breakfast & Nest Prep
Red Eyes watching from above, Yellow Eyes watching from below.
Both attuned to the sights and sounds of the forest all around.
Their thoughts and spirit driving forward to live for tomorrow.
Nesting
Watching from above, a home in the sky offers so much more.
More time and more distance to view the wide world all around you.
With these precious gifts of time and distance, what will you do next?
August 2024:
Hunting Practice
In you I may see the past, present, and future all at once.
An eternal Now of unforgettable experience.
What is it that you are seeing beyond the sight of others?
October 2024:
Seeking Something
A tower of wood with fading foliage provides new sights.
For the seeker above, seeing drives belief and confidence.
What is it the seeker seeks and believes but simply themself?
Grounded
Trees of Fall foliage and a field of opportunity.
A hunter on the wing seeking life through death with each attempt.
The hunted need be ever watchful for life or death awaits.
November 2024:
Morning Call
A quiet morning and the silence shattered by a Hunter’s call.
Those of the Hunted remain still and silent, revealing nothing.
What Truth connects the Hunter and the Hunted on this morning?
Alarm Call
A cluster of trees watching over the living and the dead.
Alarm calls ring out - echoing a warning to those listening.
What can be done, but to listen and live in the eternal now?
December 2024:
Beauty of the Moment
A cold and crisp Winter morning in a small wooded haven.
Life has cheated death once again in their age old struggle.
What more can there be than the beauty of the present moment?
English - Korean:
Cooper’s Hawk = 쿠퍼스 호크 / kupeoseu hokeu
Cooper’s Hawk = 쿠퍼스 매 / kupeoseu mae
Hawk = 호크 hokeu (transliterated directly from English to Korean)
Hawk = 매 / mae (Korean word for ‘hawk’)
**The transliterated word for hawk to Korean is 호크 / hokeu. The actual word hawk in Korean is 매 / mae.**
2024 posts about Cooper’s Hawks
January:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-practice-patience
February:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-morning-snowfall
March:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-morning-hawk
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawks-staking-claim
April:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawks-family-preparations
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawks-breakfast-and-nest
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-nesting
August:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-hunting-practice
October:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-seeking-something
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-grounded
November:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-morning-call
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-alarm-call
December:
https://neilbarker.substack.com/p/coopers-hawk-beauty-of-the-moment
I love watching hawks and often wish I could join them in the air. On your lovely paired Cooper’s and to wish you a Happy New Year, here’s my attempt at a sijo:
We stay together, despite the uncertainty of our next meal
Soaring, gliding and diving for joy, but also for dinner
Floating on air gives new perspective and unending hope
"Nearing the completion of a circle turn around the Sun."
-bowing. getting up
"The spirit of Nature moving through all and not understood."
- naturally enough, a good thing.
"What message does Nature bring and what message do you hear?"
-two corpses in one coffin. He's spending the family patrimony for your sake.