One afternoon back in December my youngest child barreled into the house out of breath and very excited. He had been buzzed by a hawk that had flown low through our backyard and settled in a tree by our driveway. He wanted to show it to me and rushed me to put on my shoes and follow. When I went outside he jumped up and down and pointed to show me a very calm red-shouldered hawk perched in a pine tree looking down at us.

My older kids and their friends on the alley played basketball nearby (quite loudly) but the hawk didn’t seem to care. My youngest son and I laid back on the driveway to take in everything we could. We have a number of hawks in our area, but they only occasionally hang out in our yard. He and I examined the feathers and talons through binoculars and the camera, talked about what the hawk might think of us, and basked in the warmth of the afternoon sun.

I eventually went inside, but he stayed and watched some more. Within five minutes he barreled into the house again to tell me that he had seen the hawk swoop down, pick up a mouse, fly back up to the branch, drop the mouse, re-capture it, then devour it whole. He was very excited and I told him I wished I’d seen it. Of course, a few minutes later the story had changed: first the meal switched from a mouse to a lizard, then from a lizard to a snake, then back to a mouse. I’m not sure what exactly he saw, but I am glad he was excited about it and thought to share it with me.

I want my kids to love nature and to be curious about it. Like a campfire, though, it’s hard to find the balance between kindling an interest and smothering it. I can’t count the times they have asked a question about an animal or plant and I have jumped in with facts and explanations only to see them lose interest. I’ve learned to try and offer less, and let them ask more questions when they have them (in truth, I’m still working on this).

There are cases like this hawk, though, where our interest levels align and we get to share a moment like this one. Our youngest finds raptors fascinating, and this was the first time he got to see one up close in the wild. I’m glad he got that experience and that he thought to spring me into the moment. I was surprised my older children weren’t as interested, but let it go and left them to their basketball game. They don’t like to learn as much or watch animals for as long as their little brother, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t picked something up.

Yesterday when they took our dog for a walk they saw a hawk perched on the neighbor’s fence. They stopped to watch until it tired of being the show and flew off. When they came home they were excited and had big smiles as they talked about it. I was glad to listen, grateful for their joy and the sense of awe they felt (though they probably wouldn’t describe it that way).

I like to think as a parent I instilled some of that in them, but it’s probably more of a natural human reaction. These are beautiful birds and it’s hard not to feel something when you come across them, whether in a forest or in your backyard. I hope they always keep their eyes open like that, and that they never stop sharing what they see with me.