Spring Visitor

Yesterday, late morning, a sharp-shinned hawk flew into the yard and sat on our back porch railing for a few moments. We were so surprised and pleased to see him up close. Needless to say, the backyard cleared out of all other birds. For about 10 minutes after he visited our porch, we saw no birds in the backyard. Last summer we had two different hawks come to perch in the backyard, and so we wondered if one of them had returned, or if they all know that there is prey to be had back there.