When raptors make a house call — at your own home

I wasn’t able to leave home today to go birding, which makes what transpired this afternoon all the more remarkable. Early in the afternoon, just before my wife and I sat down for lunch, I looked out the dining room window and was astonished to see a hawk in the laurel tree that marks the border with our neighbors’ yard.

Even more surprising, it was a red-shouldered hawk — one I had never spotted on our lot before. I was able to grab my camera and take several shots. The bird was mostly in the clear, although its beak was slightly obscured by a small branch. This shot was best of the lot.

I moved a few steps around our Christmas tree to try to get a shot straighter on from a window on the side of the house, but by then the bird had disappeared. I reckon that a house sparrow that had been perched stock still in one of the bushes by the house was breathing easier after that.

After lunch, I went back into the dining room and glanced onto the golf course beyond our property line. To my amazement, a mature bald eagle was sitting on the side of the 11th hole.

I picked up the camera and shot a few frames through a window, then opened the sliding back door. The eagle either saw me move or heard the shutter click, and it took off to fly a loop close to the condominiums that parallel the 10th fairway.

I looked through the trees and picked up the bird for a few seconds, trusting autofocus and motor drive to do their duty.

The camera did a decent job on a few frames, and if I had better Lightroom skills I might have offered a couple of other photos of the bird flying toward me. It eventually went between our house and the neighbors’ place and out of sight.

This wasn’t our first eagle spotting at home. Last February, a bald eagle flew a similar loop over the golf course on Super Bowl Sunday. There have been other sightings over our 10 years here.

No matter where I see a bald eagle, it’s a thrill. Seeing one so close to me on a day when a red-shouldered hawk also appeared is an experience I won’t forget. 🦅