Another day in which I thought I should put my mind on auto pilot and later on write about it.

It’s now 8:42 p.m,. and outside it’s a cold rain that’s failing. Really cold, really miserable. I’m inside by the woodstove, relatively warm.

As the story goes – I had forgotten that I was to go with Mabel Wimmer and check out the hawk migration today. She sent me an email mid-morning, and I then remembered. I was making progress on my BLBP administrative and was getting ready to go outside and take all three horses for a ride.

Ryder at the Matanuska Glacier

I decided instead to go out the Glenn Highway and see if I might see any hawks.

I met Mabel in the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel, and we headed in the direction of where we thought the hawks might be. It was overcast, but still a beautiful ride along the Matanuska River, alongside the mountains.

We talked some about environmental losses, for example we noted that the Mat Glacier is receding quickly, and that there is not as much bird life in our area as previously, to which I said, “In our lifetime, we are talking like this.” And maybe, I thought, the memories of what we used to have versus the memories of what remains is its own form of loss and suffering.

We turned down Alaskacom road, a long winding, up and down stretch that went through patchy tundra. No sign of any hawks, but we could hear the song birds. And at the distance, mountainous snow peaks, so many shades of white juxtaposed against so many shades of gray.

We got out of Mabel’s lime green Jeep and stood around, gawking.

We looked online and saw that the hawk watching area was near Gunsight Mountain, so we headed in that direction, stopping to ask at the lodge where the hawks might be. The very young counter clerk had no idea.

We headed in a homeward direction and saw, to our right, a fellow sitting in a chair, holding binoculars – there was a spotting scope in front of him.

We parked and he stood up and greeted us. He was tall, stocky, had a beard, was dressed for the weather. There was a board in front of him, with the day’s bird count, the two month bird count, and the overall area count.

Both Mabel and I talked with him – she retreated to the car, but I stood there and asked this fellow a lot of questions. The count is sponsored by Hawkwatch International, there are four individuals doing the two month count. I did not see any birds, because as I was told, the season is going to end in five days.

I asked about the migration itself and learned that the birds, and particularly the golden eagles, travel alone. They go along the valley that was in front of us – and yes, climate change is affecting them; although the representative did say that birds are very resilient.

There was more. I will definitely go back next year.

Next: 129. 5/12/26: The Show Must Go On