Here's a topic that hasn't hit the BB....maybe because there is no interest smile. I became interested in hawks about 40 years ago. I would notice these big birds perched in a tree on the side of the interstate. I found out they were Red-Tailed Hawks. I got curious. I then found out there are hawk-watches along the western hills (mountains) of New Jersey bordering the Delaware River and in New York along the Hudson River. Each year the Audubon Society conducts "raptor" counts (hawks, falcons, eagles) from mid August to mid November. So one year I went to Hook Mtn in Nyack, NY along the Hudson River. There were a dozen of nerdy bird watchers with big binoculars and telescopes calling out the names of hawks flying by. To the naked eye they were dots in the sky, but these folks were calling out, "immature, male, sharp-shinned". They would keep a running chart of numbers. On a busy day in September they would count up to 1,000 broad-winged hawks migrating from Canada to South America. I thought that was pretty cool.

Today, I'm a backyard bird feeder. Chickedees, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals, Nuthatches, Towhees, Juncos, Downy Woodpeckers visit my feeders. Its a peaceful hobby just watching them out my window. Occasionally I go for a hawk watch in Cape May, NJ or along the Jersey marsh lands. This past weekend I saw a first; a Marsh Hawk. Any fellow, nerdy bird watchers out there?

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, whoever humbles himself will be exalted - Matthew 23:12