Walking home shortly after New Year's, campus was deserted. It was extremely cold. No students, no little animals, no traffic. I heard this odd, high cry, repeated and repeated. At the corner I saw two redtails up the block landing on a fire escape. I was the only person there. No wonder the squirrels were hiding. All this for me alone? Should I wave down passers by?
The crying bird was on the lower railing, back flat, head up, begging. It didn't look young, but acted it. The mother (I presume) was a flight up, impervious, only now and then flapping. So bitter & still, except for the baby's cries! I watched for a while. Two passing cars slowed. One pedestrian joined me. The baby persisted, the mother was unmoved. Eventually, she raised her huge wings and flew. The baby stayed, but now had no reason to beg. I moved on.
Later, I saw her on a chimney. The next day, I saw one flying high above the green. Yesterday a graduate student phoned to say one was on a street near campus, perched low in a tree, watching humans hunt for parking spaces.
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