Watched like a hawk

Today, I went into the lab to start some cells and Dr. Jones ran into the cell culture room to show me the coolest thing. Apparently, a great big hawk had taken up residence on the ledge just outside her office window. He sat there and watched her for quite some time. By the time, I got there he had been there for probably an hour or so, flying back and forth from that ledge to the one across the way and from the tops of the lightpoles. He was fascinating to watch, mostly because we couldn’t wait to see him spread his gigantic wings and go from ledge to ledge. Several times, he even got brave enough to fly down to the ground surprisingly close to people walking on the sidewalk. We think this was only because he was searching for the lunch he had left there. Dr. Jones said that he had at some point killed a pigeon and it was sitting in the grass right next to the sidewalk. But he left it for a minute and the maintenance crew disposed of his lunch. The funny thing was he stuck around for another half hour or so and he kept flying back down to that spot on the ground looking for the pigeon, looking very confused when it was no longer there. I really thought hawks were smarter than that. Eventually, Dr. Jones ran down to the department office and grabbed the camera and got him staring right at her. He was gorgeous as he swooped down to the ground and back to his light post. So we decided that he was a birthday gift for me! It’s amazing how long you can sit and be entertained by a simple thing like a bird!