My 10-Hawk Ride
by Judy Johnson
I attended Eastern Illinois University and have many relatives who attended U of I in Urbana-Champaign; I have made the trip south from the Chicago suburbs on I-57 over a hundred times. To say the trip can be monotonous is an understatement with mile after mile of flat corn fields. But then, ten years ago, I started birding.
On December 15, I once again was heading south on I-57. Usually, I see about 5 Red-tailed Hawks on the trip, but when I counted 7, I thought, “This could be a “Ten-Hawk Ride.” How exciting! Sure enough, number 8 and 9 were perched on a post and in a tree. Then at mile marker 248, 11 miles from my exit, there was number 10! Wow! Beautiful, gorgeous, regal birds!
But wait - a mile later number 11 was eating some little animal near the fencing. After exiting on I-74 East, number 12 was on a light post near the Neil Street exit. So, I had a Twelve-Hawk Ride! It was not monotonous at all; the ride was a joy.
Ten years ago, prior to becoming a birder, I probably would have hardly noticed birds, and if I did, I could not have identified these birds as Red-tailed Hawks. I certainly could not have known that nine of them were mature and so had already survived a winter, which is good; most immature raptors do not survive their first winter. Number 10 looked really large and was probably a female.
Also, my interest in birds has made me much more aware of the importance of the native plants that help sustain them. Now I can identify the stands of horribly invasive phragmites, a huge Asian grass, on the highway’s edge. Also, I would not have known that there are efforts to replace phragmites with native plants, especially milkweed.
Every look out the window, every walk, every trip has the possibility of seeing birds and their interesting habits and habitats. People who know I love birds send me cell phone pictures to help with identification, which means they are also getting into birding too. Additionally, I have met wonderful new birding friends.
I had no idea that when I began birding, so many aspects of my life would be enriched.
January 1, 2020