I almost missed this amazing wildlife moment.
On the weekend before Christmas I attended a family event with my cousins in Houston. To avoid driving back in the dark I stayed at my sister's home in a rural area outside the small town of Chappell Hill, Texas. It was dusk when I pulled into their drive intending to grab my stuff and head inside. Fortunately I heard a sound which caused me to turn around and look.
Hawks! Possibly a hundred or more roosting in a row of trees highlighted by sunset. All those dots in the trees are hawks and even the tree on the far left is filled with them. This behavior is known as "communal roosting" and it is common among smaller birds like starlings. Very little information is available regarding communal roosting on this scale for larger territorial hunters like Hawks and Eagles. While I was not certain they were hawks that evening I did observe many hawks hunting over the nearby fields the next morning.
My still photos did not turn out well due to darkness but I did get several videos with audio of the gentle flapping sound that alerted me to this spectacular moment.
Then I moved a little closer
Wildlife Wednesday is hosted by Tina at "My Gardener Says...." on the first Wednesday of each month where you will find more blogger's wildlife posts linked in the comments section. Today she shares her memories of a stunning photo from space which made us all stop and see our planet in a different way some years ago.