the falcon perched atop the dead tree,
a sentinel surveying the river valley for prey;
red tail hawk mates had occupied the perch
for a long time
but
disappeared a couple of years ago.
i spotted the falcon while teeing up on the ninth tee;
the course is straight down from our house
where
the ensign flies at the top of our hill,
where before first light this morning;
the neighbor’s small dog had managed to escape
from the fenced back yard,
little tike, yappy mean,
growling at me when i emerged for the newspaper,
still growling and yapping when i left;
three houses down, two walkers espied a coyote
in the corner of a yard, nearly trapped;
the coyote escapes and darts back into the canyon;
after pausing to determine an escape path,
had he headed up the street,
the mean yappy dog would have been breakfast:
we share this land with the wildlife
but
often forget the two, us and the wildlife
are entwined;
while the falcon scans the land
from his perch;
i am glad he’s there.
Since we live close to Priest Lake we too are entwined with wildlife. We feed birds which brings squirrels, opossums, skunks, rabbits. and hawks to eat the afore mentioned. We haven’t seen deer this year, but there was a herd that frequented the churchyard at the end of our street. Nashville passed an ordinance where you could apply for a permit to keep chickens in certain neighborhoods. We had a couple of neighbors that got chickens and a rooster. I guess the coyotes got them because we quit hearing them this spring. Life goes on.