Seein’ The Hawks

Sorry, but this post is not about the time I saw the Atlanta Hawks at the Bryce Jordan Center, I know you are all quite disappointed.  Instead this is a post about the different types of hawk I see on my drive to work.  I drive 70 miles to work and since 95.71% of that drive is on the highway surrounded by woods, you tend to see some wildlife.

Red-Tailed Hawk
I saw a red-tailed hawk the other day.  It was flying down the center of the highway and I was hoping to see it swoop down to catch some prey.

 
Cooper’s Hawk
These are the most common hawks I see while driving.  If you do not know, these are a little smaller and if you look up on telephone polls, you can usually see one up there scanning the ground for little animals.

I actually saw one that must have been injured awhile back.  I would see it on the side of the rode walking around for three days straight.  It looked like it was unable to fly.  Hopefully someone from the PA Game Commission came by and rescued it.

Golden Eagle
I know you are going to say something like “umm, I thought this was about hawks.”  Well Mr. Smarty-Pants, eagles and hawks are in the same family, so whatever.  I had a very up close experience with a golden eagle about a month ago.

I was coming home from work and was almost to Altoona, when a giant bird came soaring across the road.  It was in the classic talon attack pose, you know with it’s wings back, kind of gliding with it’s talons outstretched.  The damn thing flew right over the hood of my car!  I was scared that it was trying to take me.  I realized pretty quickly that it was not a bald eagle and I had to go home and look up to see what it was.

Turns out it was a golden eagle.  That should not be that surprising to me since I had just went by Tyrone, who are known as the Golden Eagles.  Who knew that they were actually named for a bird that is nearby.

My high school mascot is the Mounties (I suppose it is Mountaineers technically) and I have never seen a guy in a ‘coon skin hat with a musket wandering around Philipsburg, nor have I seen the Canadian Royal Mounted Police either.

Author: Ngewo