08/02/2025
On our recent trip to Alberta, for some reason, we saw multiple hawks as they were diving down for their prey. I’ve never seen that many hawks, on one road trip, hunting like that. So we got a little obsessed with spotting them out the window to watch what they’ll do. (We also got to watch an Osprey hunt for fish while having supper on an outdoor patio in Calgary!)
My parents live in a small village in southern Alberta, and you pretty much have to drive to the nearest town to get most of the things you need. We take the same highway each time, and each time we drove by a particular grove of trees, these two hawks were hunting and gliding high up on the breeze.
On our last trip by this grove of trees, we slowed right down, hoping to see our new friends one last time before we left. They weren’t gliding above the trees like usual, so I thought maybe they were hanging out in the trees.
I spotted them in this tree, pulled the car over, and grabbed my camera. Not realizing at first that they were sitting by their nest, I tried to get a bit closer. The male got very mad at me, flew away, and started yelling at me from a telephone pole. But the female remained firm in her resolve, sitting quietly above her nest, until I left her alone. I didn’t get too close - I really didn’t want to disrupt their space, but I did get a few pictures!
I’ve never seen a “hawk family” before, so this was pretty cold for me. I also used to think that a hawk was a hawk for the most part - but I have learned that these are probably Swainson’s Hawks (please correct me if I’m wrong!). My kids have a “Notice Nature” book from the library so we will happily mark this one off!
