02 February 10, 1963 - Marsh Hawks
Marsh Hawks
Exclusive Sunday Review sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven
Focus on Nature by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue
GUEST WRITER:
DENNIS PULESTON
I am sure Dennis Puleston is
no stranger to you who 'have fol-
lowed our column for it is he
who has faithfully illustrated it
for us. I never realized years ago
as Dennis and I watched a pair
of Marsh Hawks at their nest
that one day he would be writing
about these magnificent birds for
FOCUS ON NATURE. His close
association with these b i r d s
makes this week's article truly a
rewarding adventure. PS.
A few years ago, upon hearing
a shot on the marshes adjacent
to my home in Brookhaven, I at
went down there in the hopes
he poacher. Not only
face to face with the
but I caught him literally
red handed. For the young
hunter was carrying a crumpled.
body I recognized to my anger as
that of a male M a r s h Hawk.
When I pointed but that he was
not only trespassing and poach-
ing, but was also guilty of killing
a protected bird, he affected hurt
surprise. "Why," he protested,
"all I did was shoot this old chick-
en hawk." It is not necessary
here to go into my heated retort;
in flact, if this was merely an
isolated incident resulting from
the single, heedless act o` an ig-
norant, gun - happy lout, it would
hardly warrant mention. Unfort-
unately, I hear every year of such
tragedies, in which local h i g h
school boys have shot M a r s h
Hawks, and the rapidity at which
this bird is vanishing from our
salt meadows bears witness to
the scale of this pointless mass-
acre.
For the Marsh Hawk, as it
sails effortlessly over the fields
and marshes, is an easy target
for the wanton gunner. Since it
is usually about its patient busi-
ness of searching for mice and
other small prey, it stays within
about twenty feet of the ground.
It alternately flaps and glides,
with its wings well above t h e
horizontal in a deep V; it cone-
stantly tilts its body from side
to side, and is helped by the
rudderlike action of its long tail
to turn rapidly from one direction
to another, as a tiny movement
in the grass catches its alert eye.
_ -In a flash the bird brakes with
its tail and drops like a stone,
with talons extended to seize its
prey. Or, if unsuccessful, it rises
at once and resumes its tire-
less hunt. This habit of endlessly
quartering the ground has earned
for this bird and its close rela-
tives in Europe the name Har-
rier. The only bird with which
it is likely to be confused, and
this because of the similarity of
its hunting habits, is the Sbort-
eared Owl, but the latter bird is.
more erratic in its Right, has the
typical blunt head - profile of all
owls, and doers not have the dis-
tinctive white rump patch of tr'e
Marsh Hawk.
Not many years ago this ele•
gant and graceful harrier was a
fairly common breeder in suita-
ble areas of Long Island. I can
recall one spring when I located
three nests within a mile of my
house, but since then there has
been a rapid population decline,
and I have not had the good for-
tune of coming across a breeding
pair since the mid fifties. Mote's
the pity; the sight of a male
Marsh Hawk indulging in h i s
nuptial flights is one not to be
soon forgotten, and it saddens me
to think that the coming genera-
tions of young Long Island natu-
ralists are being deprived of this
spectacular display. For in early
spring the male will throw off
his usual sedate flight pattern
and perform before the admiring
hen with abandon. First he rises
in a steep climb, until he stalls,
then he drops almost to the earth
in a headlong dive, to rise again
and repeat the act. Often he will
execute exuberant somersaults
and other aerial acrobatics, so
that it is hard to believe this is
the same bird to be seen dili-
gently searching the w i n t e r
meadows.
The adult male has a pale grey
back and wings and black wing-
tips; the underparts are w h i t .e
with faint rusty spots. The fe-
male is dark brown on the back
and has a heauily streaked breast.
Young birds are quite similar to
the female except for the under-
parts, which are a uniform rusty
brown. In all plum -ages, the white
patch above the tail is diagnostic.
As soon as the pair have com-
pleted their ground nest of reed
stems and grasses, hidden in the
thicker marshy areas, the court-
ship flights cease and both birds
attend solicitously to the protec-
tion of the eggs and ,young. As
is the case with many o t h e r
birds of prey, incubation begins
with the laying of the first .egg,
so that chicks of varying sizes
will be found in a single brood.
The nestlings, blind and helpless
when hatched, are clad in dirty
white down. After about a week
pinfeathers are developing, and
as their eyes open they become
alert to danger, screaming and
threatening with their tiny bills
and talons en approached. In
the meantW, the frantic par-
ents are hovering overhead, div-
ing at the intruder as close as
they dare and scolding with a
series of high whistling n o t e s.
Without a doubt, the watchfulness
and courage of the adults is es-
sential to the survival of the
young; vulnerable as they are in
their ground nest to many preda-
tors such as mink, raccoons,
foxes,' opossums, cats and dogs,
it is difficult to understand how
any of t he m can escape an
early, violent death.
Once the young have been
taught to flay and hunt for them-
selves, the family breaks up, for
too many hawks hunting in the
same area for long would soon
result in a food shortage. In the
early fall, they begin heading
southward, many following the
dunes along the coastline. Some
individuals, however, f o r s a k e
their familiar wet meadows and
follow the hill ridges; quite a few
Marsh Hawks are observed every
fall following the traditional hawk
flyway along the Kitatdnny Hills
at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in
eastern Pennsylvania. This south-
ward migration takes them to
Florida, the other Southern states,
and even into the West Indies.
A few, probably birds that bred
in Newfoundland or Quebec at
the northern limit of their sum-
mer r a n g e, spend the winter
in suitable areas on our L on g
Island marshes. Here, the living
must be very precarious, a n d
one wonders how many can sur-
vive. For at this season t h e
meadow mice and other s m a 11
rodents seldom venture far into
the open, and after a snowfall
they make their tunnels under
the snow. I have often watched
a Marsh Hawk for long periods,
hungrily quartering the salt hay
meadow without making a catch',
all the time he is burning up his
metabolic fuel in the energy ex-
pended in his apparently hopeless
quest. Will he become too weak
to continue the search before he
can refuel? I often wonder, and
wish him good hunting. Yet- he
never seems to falter or grow
impatient, and my admiration for
Trim knows no bounds in his des-
perate struggle to maintain him,
self in the face of these terrible
odds. But whether in the frozen
north or the sunny southlands,
the Marsh Hawk is serving
Man by exercising a control on
the rodent population. In the
South, the destructive Cotton Rat
is one of his favorite victims;
occasionally he will take a young
rabbit, and in the summer he
sometimes varies his diet with
frogs, snakes, small fish, dead
animal matter, and even large
insects.
It is therefore safe to state that
the Marsh Hawk is one of our
most useful birds, meriting all
the protection and encouragement
we can provide for him. Yet,
besides his strictly utilitarian
value, he lends life, character,
and beauty to his marshy haunts.
As he floats, light and agile as
a butterfly, over his h u n t i n g
grounds, I am obliged to admit
that I have nothing but contempt
for the persgn who would care-
lessly destroy such an outstanding
example of t !h a perfection of
N a t u r e's handiwork, w h i c h
should be preserved for the en-
joyment and admiration of future