The hawk that played oppossum

Once when I was at my in-laws house in the country, we heard a big crashing thump at the picture window. We ran over to see what had happened and there was a big hawk standing hunched over and disheveled on the patio. It must have been chasing something and flew, hard, into the window.

The patio was about 40 feet long with a wall extending out to the grass on either end and about 15 feet deep and covered the full width with a roof, making it like a big outdoor room with only the yard-side open. This image isn't the actual patio but sort of illustrates the layout.

The hawk was deep in, only about 5 feet from the window and facing it so, when we stepped through the sliding glass door onto the patio, we were very close to the hawk and it was a little boxed in with its freedom behind it.

We stood there silently watching this amazingly beautiful creature for quite a few minutes. It never moved, never showed any sign of recovery, just stayed hunched and disheveled. After a few minutes of both of us staring intently at it, I barely turned my head to whisper something to M and, at that moment, it burst into flight. It jumped up and forward, heading towards the window and SHARPLY banked a U turn back out and into the sky, flying free and strong, though probably with a headache.

What left me awe-struck was the fact that the hawk transitioned from disoriented and vulnerable to fully capable without ever revealing any change. It had the presence of mind to sustain its awkward posture until an opportunity presented itself. Then, the hawk used that split-second when we redirected our focus from purely on it to our whispered exchange, to hurl itself into the air and freedom.

Only slightly less amazing to me was the manuver itself: Up off the ground (straight towards the window and us), midair U turn to point towards the sky and powerful wing thrusts to do all of it at high speed. This image is clip art, not the actual hawk.