Hawk Soaring: Wonder and Awe and Delight

I'm fairly certain this is a juvenile red-shouldered hawk, but neither its age nor its species are relevant here. As I have written so often, "the photographs in this project are about the sky, the earth, the plants and animals, and about the experience of being in their presence, the experience of their spirit, the experience of wonder and awe and delight."

The hawk flew out of the woods next to the trail along the river and circled low over my head several times before it soared off upstream. It was as obviously aware of my presence as I was of it. There was, for a few brief moments, a connection between us.

About the time I start thinking, "This is what it's all about. It doesn't get any better than this!" it gets better: