Christmas Eve hawking and walking

We went for a walk on Christmas Eve morning. On the way to the trail, we saw this guy hunting for his breakfast. He posed for us in a variety of postures.

He looks chilly with his feathers all fluffed, doesn’t he? He changed branches after studying us coldly for a few minutes.

Then he flashed his lovely feathered pantaloons, and flew away with a few piercing “Keer!” calls. My husband was convinced that he was saying, “Merry Christmas!” I’m not so sure, though.

A few moments later, we came upon this one. I think of this redtail as a “she,” because she was larger. She also looks rather coy. It’s a younger hawk without the red tail feathers yet.

The walk was lovely. It was quite cold, and we didn’t see any wildlife to speak of; all the action in that regard had already happened by the time we got to the trail. But there were other feasts for the eye, even in this season of muted colors.

We had a wonderful Christmas. (It’s still going on today, in fact, with more family celebration.) I hope you did too!