That distinctive wide, low swoop caught the edge of my sight and I stood as I turned to see if maybe I could see it way over into the neighbor’s yard.

But that’s not where it was. It was perched right there on top of my birdnetting tent.

I looked at the Cooper’s hawk and it looked steadily back at me for about half a minute. It was an adult, a little paler at the lower front than its (grandfather?), Coopernicus, who used to come people watch from time to time during breeding season. Including, memorably, one time when a mourning dove fluttered down off the awning right in front of him and how do you describe a bird doing a double take as he did this sudden, ‘Scuse me, my young’uns would love some of that. Whoosh!

With the tall redwood and silk oak trees gone now that they nested in it was a joy to see that they’re still in the neighborhood.