One of my dogs gets anxious when the wind blows, which it has done a lot here this summer. When it blows at night, she gets me up so she can go lie down in the backyard. This calms her; no idea why.

But then I’m up. And if it’s close to dawn, I just stay up, and start my day. One of those mornings, the dog had settled down and gone back to bed. I was sitting at the breakfast table with the sun not quite up yet. I happened to look out the window and saw a Cooper’s hawk streak across the backyard. I grabbed my ever-ready camera, and went outside to see what was going on.

I don’t know if she had tried for one of the bunnies that venture into the yard, or a small bird, or what. But she had come up empty taloned, and landed on the fence.

She worked herself back around …

… did a quick pre-flight check …

… launched herself …

… and was gone.

Almost made it worth getting up before the sun.