Sitting on a bench outside of class today, I watched as one of the campus’ resident red-shouldered hawks flew onto a streetlight that stretched over a busy sidewalk. It was easily the closest I had ever been to a wild hawk, and the little, wrinkled, khaki-clad grandma that is my inner ornithologist was jumping for joy. As I looked around to share my excitement with someone, anyone nearby, I realized I couldn’t. Of all the people on that path, not one had noticed the large bird of prey swooping out of the sky to perch above their heads. Everyone was either hunched over cell-phones or busy avoiding eye contact with anyone else on the path. Dozens of people walked right under that hawk, but until I took out my borrowed camera to take a few pictures, nobody looked up.

This Earth Day take the time to look around you. You never know what could be just above your head.