One of the things that grieving does to me is make me more forgetful — “Where are those truck keys?” “I just had that shopping list, Penny, did you eat it?” It’s just part of the territory these days and why I’m glad I keep good lists on my iPhone. “Where’s the $#@& iPhone?

Yesterday afternoon, the weather was wonderful for a change and I decided to take Penny out for a walk to see if we could see the Northern Goshawk again. I’d seen a pair a couple of days ago and hoped that they might be sticking around to nest.

We started out with dozens of chickadees, like this one, chattering away, probably reminding me that the feeders were getting low.

One of our Black-capped Chickadees who believes in eating local food.

As we got up to the place where we have seen goshawks, I sat down on a leafy knoll, head up against a tree, and relaxed in the sun, listening to nuthatches and chickadees. The dog flopped down for a bit and it was nice, until my cellphone dinged. I thought we were out of 3G range but a message, unimportant, made it through.

I returned to the house, started getting organized for a shopping trip, loaded the dog, and could not find my iPhone. I looked everywhere. My last resort was to look out in the woods where I had been sitting. So off we trudged, back up the hill, Penny wondering what was up but game for any outing. Just as we approached the spot, I heard a Pileated Woodpecker – first of the year — and then saw it flying through the pines. I then saw my iPhone on the leaves up ahead. Things were looking much better.

Then, I heard a goshawk calling and sure enough, the same bird I that I had seen before perched and called from a tree quite far away. I pushed the limit of my SX-50 point and shoot camera but it sat in the sun for me, and then flew off to a more distant perch.

Northern Goshawks are beautiful birds. I think this is a female since its companion the other day was smaller.

So what was lost was found and I got a neat bonus plus more exercise. I’m going to be traveling a lot for the next few weeks so it will give these birds, if they choose to stay, a chance to be undisturbed. I am concerned by their noisiness and am not posting information on their location — other than it is somewhere within walking distance of the house. Let’s leave them be and see if they nest. Good birding to all.