Continued from page 1
My wife and I witnessed an awesome display of aviation other day. Two hawks were flying around across street, swooping right over us at times. They were trying to establish a new nest.
Usually, hawks fly somewhere "up there", distant silhouettes against blinding brightness of sky. But on this occasion, they were flying low enough for us to make out colors beneath their wings: deep, dark brown and sandy tan feathers.
And low enough to see colors of little birds (sparrows, perhaps?) giving chase. It was an even match, or so it seemed. Two sparrows versus two hawks. OK, perhaps not completely even. Each hawk looked big enough to gulp down a sparrow in a single chomp, like a person might swallow a grape. Come to think of it, this match did not look any more even than if I had been placed in a ring with a well-fed sumo wrestler.
Yet there they were, two big hawks, graceful and majestic, scourge of field mice everywhere, managing impossible maneuvers to evade slightest touch of tiny sparrows.
Why? Because sparrows are more agile than hawks, and can more easily position themselves for attack. Because sparrows are less fragile than hawks, and do not fear feather damage to same degree. Because sparrows are quicker than hawks, so they can more easily retreat if they have to.
Sadly for hawks, their size was of little comfort against superior skills of sparrows. And sadly for us, it appears we will NOT be watching comings and goings of hawks nesting across street.
Does size matter? No. But if you want to make that slice of cheesecake just a bit bigger, I would be much obliged.
David Leonhardt is The Happy Guy. Read more articles like this at: http://TheHappyGuy.com/self-actualization-articles.html Or sign up for the free online Happy Class at: http://TheHappyGuy.com/self-actualization-happy-class.html