Chapter 2 “In the Woods”
Our story begins in the woods very near the grove of walnut trees. We will first meet Henry the Red Tailed Hawk. Henry is the last hatching of the summer. He is in the nest of two very much in love Red Tail Hawks whose names are Walter and Anna. They got married and built a very fine nest for raising a family. The tree that they selected was a very mighty old Oak tree that was tall and strong. It made a perfect place for a pair of Red Tailed Hawks to make their nest in and raise a family. The hunting for food was plentiful in the woods and the surrounding area. Even though the woods had many different types of trees in it like pines, Oaks, Ash, and walnut trees also. The woods were known as the Walnut Grove woods.
You know that hawks are meat eaters and they usually have to use their hunting skills to get their food. Hawks are not like Eagles who are content or I guess we could even say lazy.
The eagles will look for animals that have been hit by a car or truck and very soon afterward the animal dies. Enough about Eagles.
Let’s get back to our couple of hawks Walter and Anna with the last hatching who they named Henry. Henry was rather small as far as red tails go but he was a fighter and he was always trying the take his solo flight. Henry would practice while his parents were out looking for food for the whole family. Henry watched his brothers and sisters go on their solo flights and he watched as Mom and Dad would take them out into the woods and teach them how to find food and how to use the air currents to float through the air. Henry really wanted to be a part of all that but he just could not get the hang of flying so he would try all the more so that he would be able, very soon, to join his parents and his brothers and sisters up in the air, soaring, floating, diving, and everything else that a young hawk needs to know how to do to survive!
One day near the in early fall Henry still had not taken his solo flight. He was very worried that he may never fly so he decided that while the rest of the family was out on this beautiful October day he would make his solo flight and surprise the whole family when they returned to the nest. Henry would flap his little wings just as fast as he could and he would get a bit of a lift off or he would stay in the air for just a few seconds. Everything that Henry did gave him more confidence, so he would try even harder. The only problem was that with each attempt to fly Henry would exert more energy and tire himself out even more. Being tired did not stop Henry; he jumped up to the edge of the nest and tries again to just fly across his nest. It is late October and Henry knows that if he does not learn to fly very soon his parents will have to leave him and fly south for the winter. So now we have Henry standing on the edge of the nest almost dark and he wants so badly to fly.
That now he is on the edge of his nest looking out into the Walnut Grove woods, now when you add in the factor that he is physically exhausted but very determined. Henry makes his biggest jump off into the air and starts to flap his wings and what do you know he is flying for a little bit then along comes a cool gust of fall air and it carries Henry even farther into the evening air and away from the safety of his nest. All of a sudden Henry just can’t flap his wings anymore and the cool breeze that carried him off has gone away. Henry finds himself falling towards the ground. Fortunate for him he lands in a pile of fallen leaves and all that gets hurt is one wing but just a little.
Meanwhile the rest of Henrys family return to the nest and find it empty.
Have you ever returned to your house expecting your Mom or Dad to be waiting to see you but for some reason no is home that’s scary isn’t?
Well it was to Henrys family, to get back to their home and not find little Henry, very scary! Walter & Anna started to call for Henry but he did not hear them nor could he see them. Both parents screeched and called for their son, the baby of their brood little Henry, but all to no avail. What more could they do?
Walter flew down and looked all around the base of the mighty Oak tree, but again no Henry!
When Walter got back up to the nest of course Henry still was not home and the family decided to start a new search early the next morning because it was getting to dark to see anything.
Meanwhile little Henry lay in the leaf pile and has gotten his senses back and remembers where he is and how he got into the trouble he was in! Poor Henry he finally fights his way to the top of the leaf pile even though his right wing hurts. While Henry lay on top of the leaf pile the moon raises and casts a light right on Henry so he was very easy to be seen. The first animal to come up to Henry was a mouse who when he saw that Henry was a red tail hawk scurried away as fast as he could. The next to spot Henry was a raccoon who when he saw Henry he walked way around him so as to stay away from Henry.
He told himself that it was none of his business so he had to stay out of and away from little Henry.
Now it didn’t matter to these animals that Henry was hurt and needed help they just ignored him and didn’t want to get involved at all. The next animal to spot Henry was a skunk that got just close enough to see Henry. He looked at the poor injured little hawk and then he turned, stuck his stinky nose up in the air and waddled off!