Among our favorite neighbors here in Brooklyn is a family whom we’ve only ever viewed from a distance. We see them almost every day from our window as they make trips back and forth to the park. Sometimes we spy them on a short break from those trips when they themselves seem to be just taking in the view of the neighborhood. Mostly, though, we watch them soaring through the sky.

After all, they are red-tailed hawks and that is what hawks do.

For a while, they kept a nest in the stadium lights above Long Island University’s athletic field where we saw them raise two hawklings. Those little ones grew up fast and flew away to establish their own hunting grounds. Shortly afterward, the university broke ground on a new sports complex, which brought down the family nest along with our hopes of watching another brood start life in the neighborhood.

But then this spring we noticed the hawk couple building a new nest, this time on the top of the radio tower of Brooklyn Technical High School. (It would appear that these parents like to nest above academic institutions — a sign, perhaps, of the family’s value for higher education.) They are busy throughout the day, swooping down below the trees of the park and emerging with twigs and strands of bark clutched in their talons. But even a busy hawk still takes time to soar.

And we take the time to watch them.

Song:

“Look, a Hawk”
By Charles Foster

Look, a hawk, her wings outstretched
She hasn't flapped them yet, and yet
She's always never falling,
She's always never falling.

Featuring Sylvie Holder-Foster, flute