This morning I heard the familiar screech of the red tailed hawks that are so numerous in our neighborhood, due, no doubt to the gopher metropolis in Elysian Park (not to mention their lively outpost in my own yard). Two years ago there was a hawks’ nest in one of the three eucalyptus trees in my back yard, and the screeching was fairly constant until they fledged and moved on.

But we hadn’t heard them in a while and I ran to the kitchen window to see the bird that my husband had spotted on a tree branch. While we sat there looking at it three more red tails flapped into the tree, or maybe I should say lumbered into the tree because when they’re not soaring they look like VW bugs with wings. We watched while the latter three swooped to the ground somewhere behind our yard and the original sitter stayed perched.

In the meantime, this morning I received an email from James Bigelow, a Chicken Corner reader, who reports seeing a huge hawk in Elysian Park. I would try to describe where he said he saw it except that – unless it’s one of the Elysian Park birdman’s lifelike sculptures – it has probably flown. Who knows? It could be the bird in my backyard half an hour ago.