by Cyn Bagley

Created on: February 08, 2008   Last Updated: April 19, 2011

I have lived in the backwoods of Utah, where every corner could bring you face-to-face with a moose, deer, or bear. I have lived in urban areas, where I assumed there were no wild animals. But of course there are animals in the cities. I learned this the hard way in the concrete jungle of Panama City, Panama.

My husband and I were contracting for the military in Panama. I worked at a telephone switch, and my husband repaired ATT network systems. Every Sunday we would go out for breakfast at the Albrook hotel for in-coming soldiers. There were gazebos with picnic tables in a small park in the rear of the hotel. After eating, my husband and I would sit and watch the wildlife: monkeys, birds, and iguanas.

This day, when I sat down at one of the picnic tables, a fight for survival was far from my mind. I was dressed in my typical Panama wear of shorts and T-shirts. I just wanted to relax and read the sci-fi book I had picked up the day before.

I had just stuck my nose in the book, and was getting to the really good parts when I noticed that a hawk was sitting on a pole about twenty feet away from me. He was preening himself. I wasn't alarmed and went back to my sci-fi.

I started to tense when a juvenile eagle landed on the grass about five feet away from me. It was big clumsy and you could tell he had just learned to fly. Seeing an eagle and hawk in this area was not unusual. The jungle in Panama was teeming with life. Many times we had seen toucans, sloths, and spider monkeys. So once again I relaxed and went back to my reading.

In a flash of feathers, the hawk screamed for its mate and flew at the young eagle. I jumped. Suddenly, two hawks flew at the eagle with their claws out. The eagle flipped over and flew through the gazebo with the hawks flying at him.

My blood curdled.

Let me remind you that I was wearing my urban jungle gear: shorts and a T-shirt. Let me remind you that my arms, legs, and face were exposed.

I dropped the book.

My husband standing at the back door saw the finest aerial battle he had ever seen. I didn't see the rest of it. I was face down on the table with my arms covering the back of my head. I could hear screams and swishes of air.

In about five minutes although it felt like a century, the hawks chased the eagle away. Then they flew back to their respective poles and began preening their feathers.

I sat up slowly and shakily walked to my husband.

"They didn't even touch you," he laughed.

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