I have watched for them for a couple of years now--a pair of Red-tailed Hawks that soar the thermals that rise from the freeway that roars it way along like some powerful petroleum river outside my office window. Every once in a while I will be taking in the solace of the small gardens outside when their wild and exciting "screeeeeee" will pull my eyes to dancing the sky looking for them.
It has always been just two. Last week something caught my eye. I turned and saw four of them. They were searching, struggling, sailing to find those up draughts, that elevator to another river of wind that could carry them far. I just delighted in their presence*and then two more showed up for the party! Six Red-tails swirling around in the sky. It has made me happy for days.
What does the world look like from their eyes? Not "just" the fact that they can see so amazingly different from humans, but the way that they ride the thermals*how do they perceive the world of air, currents, winds? I bet anything that they perceive it in a detailed articulate way-the way that a musician can perceive the complexities, patterns and intricate interplay of instruments in a Beethoven symphony. I wonder if to them the wind that I feel on my cheek or see reflected in the sway of the poplar looks something like the sensual whorls, layers and Mandelbrot twisting of smoke that rises from burning incense.
The non-human world is not only a source of joy and inspiration, it can also open our eyes to other ways of seeing and knowing. When the Cartesian plane has got a gridlock on your mind and all looks bleak and controlled, look to the skies or listen for the scurrying of a ladybug's toes to remind you of the Nature you have inside.