The Kestrel's Eye

Last night we watched a beautiful nature film called the Kestrel's Eye. The film follows a pair of falcons over a year as they nest in an old church in a Swedish village. It isn't like a typical nature film-- there's no narration or background music. The cameras are hidden inside their nook in the bricks of the church, so this is about seeing the world from the bird's perspective. You watch them hunt and mate and raise five hatchings while the world of the church goes on below them. With their constant expressive twittering, it was almost like the bird's perspective on the mysterious behavior of humans.

The kestrel is also known as a "windhover" because it hunts by hovering on the wind, and one of its most beautiful movements is a rapid glide on a curve. The film made me think of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, where he describes the deeply religious thrill of seeing the bird flying at dawn.

My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird-- the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!

This is usually the season when a gray curtain of rain and clouds descend on Seattle. But, typical to the atypical weather we've had all year, the next stretch of days will be warm and sunny. I'm going back to my barn this morning to bring home all the stuff a pampered horse accumulates over a long lifetime. When I drive up the lane, I'll be looking for her.