H Is For Hawk

“In real life, goshawks resemble sparrowhawks the way leopards resemble housecats. Bigger, yes. But bulkier, bloodier, deadlier, scarier and much, much harder to see.”

In person, the goshawk gives a greater impression of the wild than other birds of prey. This because they tend to hunt in remoter territories. According to MacDonald, training a goshawk requires a person to lose their preconceived, romanticized notions about birds of prey, especially the idea that they are foils or models for human behavior.

“Looking for goshawks is like looking for grace: it comes, but not often, and you don’t get to say when or how.”

In the wild, spotting goshawks is a great pleasure to birding enthusiasts because they are so rare. Like the grace MacDonald seeks throughout the book following her father’s death, it requires patience. During the memoir, MacDonald learns to stop trying to control both Mabel and her emotions, which is the most difficult part of her healing process.

“Elusive, spectacular, utterly at home, the fact of these British goshawks makes me happy. Their existence gives the lie to the thought that the wild is always something untouched by human hearts and hands. The wild can be human work.”

Though modern human encroachment has had a negative effect on the natural ecosystem, MacDonald sees opportunities for hope and rapprochement with the natural world through rewilding projects and conservation efforts. Once thought extinct, goshawks were reestablished on the English countryside due to human effort.