#accipitrinae

Sharp-shinned Hawk in eastern PA taking down a Northern Flicker. This was a brutal attack, the flickers mate screaming from a treetop, the fallen prey struggling to get away and the hawk applying a stranglehold around the flickers neck. It may have lasted over 15 mins before the hawk could begin pecking.

“Clint — I can’t figure it all out for you. Just because I told you what happens when we die doesn’t mean I know what to do when we’re alive.” 

She sounds wry and detached — even if this is one of the more profound sequences of words she’s ever strung together, especially for Clint. 

She wonders if she was a drinker when they met. If not, she certainly is now; she pours them both another vodka shot. 

FROM HERE   ;   @accipitrinae​

THEY PLAYED THESE GAMES MORE  often than not, bribing competition from menial tasks to keep the day-to-day from growing too dull. Recon and intel gathering were playgrounds on which they teased, unable to take seriously what they’d done a thousand times together by now. It was this air of easy jest and lowered stakes that kept Natasha from driving herself crazy; she’d spent too many decades of grim dedication to the Kremlin only to trade allegiances to the same beast of a different name.

She hummed in flimsy agreement from across the room, glancing sidelong for any details Clint might have missed in his heavy-handed hurry. When she came up empty, she leaned in over his shoulder to peer at the journal he’d swiped pages from. Clint swindled Natasha out of more victories than she would ever admit, though it was usually on a well-argued technicality than prowess alone. No matter how long they’d known each other or how long Natasha had spent memorizing his habits, Clint always surprised her. And that was more than she could say about anyone else.

A sparrowhawk perches on a snowy tree branch near Pomáz, northern Hungary

Photograph: Attila Kovács/EPA

          they eat dinner in a comfortable silence after clint tells him what occured during the day when shilah wasn’t around.  he is invested in every part of it,  noting things that seemed to make clint unhappy,  and the ever stress of wondering about him integrating into an actual school or simply hiring tutors.  the latter seemed better for him in a learning environment,  but he wondered about the social impact.