Feeling Hawkish

So, you know how when you're taking a walk in your neighborhood and a hawk dive bombs you and bonks you on the head and...wait, what? This has never happened to you?

Today I was bonked on the head by a hawk! And you want to know something even more amazing? This is the SECOND time this has happened to me. The first time was about a year ago.

Back then, when I first noticed a hawk family building a nest in a palm tree at the entrance of our neighborhood, I thought it was super cool and made sure to look for activity pretty much every time I went in or out on that street (which is always). Here is a day in January 2015 when I got some good video.

In spite of the fact that the hawk appeared to be angrily squawking at me, I decided we had bonded and understood each other. I always paused as I went by, whether I saw the hawk or not.

Then, one day when I was deep in thought as I re-entered the neighborhood and forgot to look across the road and up at the tree, something fell on my head. It felt like someone pegged me with a soccer ball, but from above. As I was hit, I reflexively hunched my head forward waiting for the thing that hit me to continue falling to the ground, because, you know, when something falls from above and hits you, it keeps falling until it hits the ground. But nothing fell!

I looked up, and I saw a hawk way up in the sky, flying away, with a smaller bird by its side.

"Did that bird just hit me?" I wondered as I rubbed my head and saw no sign of anything having fallen.

When I told people about this, they were skeptical. "Did you see it hit you?" they asked. Well, no. "How do you know it was the hawk?" But what else could it have been? It was something pretty big and it never hit the ground. Even so, I had no visual confirmation.

But this time it was different.

This morning I went for a run, but I was in a hurry to get back to head out for an appointment. It was once again one of those rare times when I did not look up to see if the hawk was around. I was standing in almost the exact same spot on the sidewalk across from the hawks' tree as I was a year ago when all of a sudden...BONK!

Something hit my head again, though this time it was softer, more of a pat or tap. And this time, I immediately looked up. There it was! The hawk was in front of me just above eye level swooping away and upward! I saw it!

But this raises so many more questions. Why doesn't the hawk like me? Has it done this to anyone else? Is it the same hawk as last year? Does the hawk want to use my hair as nesting material? Does the hawk think I have a small animal on my head? Does the hawk think I, myself, am a small animal?

And, finally, is it time to buy a helmet?