Being able to listen when exploring or just walking through the outdoors can be very important. Sometimes it can help you see things that you otherwise might miss, but can also prevent you from walking into a dangerous situation. A number of years ago I heard a moose calling out. When I came out in the open, I could see a female with her calf across the creek in the willows. They were surrounded by barely visible members of the wolf pack. In the end, the adult female moose was too strong, resulting in the wolves giving up and moving away.
A few weeks back, I was walking through the woods. I could hear a red squirrel giving out alert calls. After spending a lot of time outdoors, you start noticing the different calls of wildlife. When I also heard the calls of Red-breasted Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees, I was certain there was a predator present. As I took a few steps towards the calls, I looked around and saw nothing on the ground. So either it was a small mammal predator on the tree or a bird of prey. As I moved forward, I could see the squirrel and also where the birds were calling from. I looked down at the trail I was standing on, there was a fresh bird dropping. I looked straight up, a juvenile Northern Goshawk was looking down at me. This was the predator the squirrel and the birds were warning about. There were no larger birds to mob and have the goshawk fly away, so for now it stayed perched five meters above the ground.
I slowly moved forward to get far enough to stand back and watch. Several minutes passed, the goshawk had enough, it defecated and then flew away to a quieter place where it could ambush its next meal.
