I love my office, I spend a reasonable amount of time in here. It's a quiet and comfortable room, surrounded by books. I can curl up in my big cozy chair and read or knit. I sit at the table we built that serves as my desk looking out the north facing window. A cluster of pines is the view out this window, a stand that separates the neighbors yard from ours.
Recently, I have had quite a few afternoons where I have been able sit at this table facing out of my window and observe the comings and goings of my yard. From these daylight observations, I am convinced that a bird of prey has made a home in there.
The first time I saw him fly out of the pines last week, I thought it a coincidence, that I just happened to be looking out the window at just the right time to see him take flight. But since then I have seen him frequently perched high in the larch two doors down and coming and going out of our pines. Twice today I have seen this large raptor flying into the trees at nearly the same place, just above the top branches of the Japanese maple.
I can see his silhouette, as I type this, on a branch two thirds of the way up the tree. I don't know if that is his home or maybe he is scoping out the neighborhood that is my backyard. Welcome neighbor! I would be quite happy to see you stay, I try to cultivate wildlife in my yard, growing wild flowers, I have many plants with seeds and berries that would attract ample prey for you right in your own yard.
And where are my binoculars!! I can not get a clear look at you to see who you are!
There he is on a branch!! You must be chilly, all puffed up! It must be a nestling, there's a much more slender adult nearby! Wait the eyes are red, but it must still be young though, the other adult went for a dive into the neighbors yard!
Having found my binoculars and the fact the bird hasn't moved for over an hour and examining my field guides, it's a Cooper's hawk.
I took some photos, I only wish I could get a photo through my binoculars since I don't know where the telephoto lens is off to.