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November 13, 1986 - Hawks: Hunted HuntersHawks: Hunted Hunters By PAUL STOUTENBURGH Someone called me the other day from Indian Neck about a big hawk they had seen in their area for a number of days. When they called it was perched on a telephone pole along the road by their house. It was brownish in color with a pale front that had streaks of brown running through it. Hawks are birds of prey which means they live off other living bodies and so I surmised that the hawk must have had good hunting in the area nearby. From the descrip- tion of the hawk I felt sure it was a red -tail. This is one of the soaring hawks known as buteos. You'll often see them circling high above as they glide effortlessly on rising air cur- rents. If you keep a sharp watch as a red -tail circles above, when it banks you will see the upper portion of his tail is a rusty red in color, thereby giving it its name. To make sure of the bird's identity, I packed up my camera and drove to Indian Neck Lane and found my in- formers parked along the road below a telephone pole with the red - tailed hawk perched high above. This was most unusual to see, for hawks are difficult to approach. All I had to do was poke my camera out of the car window and take the picture as Mr. Hawk surveyed the land. Good Hunting Grounds The open field to the east was the reason the hawk had chosen this par- ticular spot to perch. It was an aban- doned overgrown field -- an ideal spot for mice and voles. Years ago, when there was much more farming here on the East End, the sterile fields of- fered little in the way of food for hawks. Today, with many of the farms lying idle, the fields make ex- cellent territory for rodents and other wildlife. Our big hawk migration here on the East End takes place in Sep- tember and October when the hawks that nested in the northern part of the country decide to move south ahead of winter's cold. Snow cover can prove disastrous to birds of prey that live on rodents hiding and living below the snow's surface. With the rather mild weather we had this fall, many hawks have lingered in our area, thus accounting for the numer- ous hawk sightings reported. The reason hawks are so leery of man is the long history of misun- derstanding about the good they do. Focus on Nature When our land was much more rural and every farmer had chickens, hawks got a bad name, since every once in a while they took one or two of Farmer Jones' flock. These occa- sional losses created the motto "The only good hawk is a dead hawk," and so shotguns came into play and the hawk population decreased. Today, after exhaustive studies, we know that hawks do much more good than harm. The majority of their diet is rodents with a wide sprinkling of other animals such as squirrels, woodchuck, raccoons, rab- bits, bats, chipmunks, muskrats, snakes, skunks, frogs, insects and an occasional small bird and yes, once in a while a chicken. Three Ways to Hunt The red -tail has three basic ways of hunting: the high thermal soaring so associated with this species of buteos; the low working of fields somewhat like the marsh hawk; and the methodical, patient perching that we often see along our road- ways. One spot where you could find a red -tail perched this summer was on the high- tension wires along Route 48 in back of Southold. There was an abandoned grain field that must have been alive with mice, for not only did the red -tail hunt there, but a short distance away had made his nest in a 40- foot -tall black oak. Years ago it was almost impossible to find a red - tail's nest in our area, yet last year, through the sharp eyes of a friend of mine, three nests were found within a five -mile area right here on the North Fork. It's good to see these magnificent birds back in our area. I have chick- ens, but would gladly sacrifice a few if it was necessary to keep the red - tails about. Birds of prey of all kinds have taken a beating more than most wild things because of the misuse of pesticides. They are at the top of the food chain where pesticides accumulate and do their dirty work. Man is slowly cleaning up his act with the result we've already seen -- an in- creased osprey population -- and now, hopefully, our birds of prey will make a similar comeback. I'm Golden Boy,.. a blond husky /shepherd mix, male, housebroken, 4 years old. Sometimes I'm calm and sometimes very playful. I'm available between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the... SOUTHOLD TOWN ANIMAL SHELTER, Peconic off Peconic Lane, in back of Highway Department • 765 -1811 This ad is sponsored by... SOUTNOLD AUTOMOTIVE CORP. - MOBIL STATION Main Road, Southold The Suffolk Times /November 13, 1986 /Page I I A — Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh YOUNG RED - TAILED HAWK - -This handsome big hawk is becoming more and more common throughout our area. Here an immature red - tail sits patiently for a mouse in the nearby field to make an unguarded move. It will be his last mistake. If you need a mortgage now, were the people to see. Don't let long approval processes keep you from taking advantage of current low mortgage rates. The expertise and years of mortgage banking experience of The Bank of New York and our mortgage subsidiary, ARCS Mortgage Inc., gives us the ability to offer quick decisions on mortgage loans. Our expert staff will work to tailor a mortgage that best meets your pneeds. With competitive terms as well as titive rates. 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