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September 27, 2001 - Dragonflies, hawks & crows, oh mySeptember 27, 2001 • The News-Re Dragonflimes aW s crov s, oh mv Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Crouched over Its recent kill, this red - tailed hawk concentrates on the rab- bit it just caught. Its urge to eat was so strong that it paid little attention to the busy highway and observers standing nearby. WE GET TELEPHONE CALLS almost every other day from people who are concerned about some aspect of the natural world they've just observed. One call in particular has me com- pletely stymied. The concerned call came from a lady in Mattituck who reported a hawk of some kind trapped in a neighbor's garage. If there's ever a call that rallies FOCUS me to the cause, it's a call about ON, hawks. In no time NATURE Barbara and I by Paul were pulling into Stoutenburgh the caller's drive- way. It seems she first heard a heavy banging coming from the next -door neighbor's garage. are away, she was curious and went to investigate. The noise was coming from a newly erected, partially fin- ished two -car garage with half the upstairs finished off as a loft. After introductions and much chat- ter about what and where the hawk was, we moved over to the garage to take a closer look. Sure enough, there was the still- unfinished garage with its big open doors below and a window - studded loft above. There was even a recently built stairway leading up to the loft. The hawk must have flown into the first -floor garage -door open- ing and then flew up to escape. It then found itself caught in the unfinished loft with its beckoning windows all As we approached the building, we could see the hawk, now sitting on the stairway. Upon seeing. us, it took flight and swooped out of the open garage to its freedom. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was an osprey. Yes, I said an osprey. It didn't make any sense: A kestrel — yes. A sharp- shinned hawk — yes. A Cooper's hawk — yes. A red - tailed hawk — yes, but not an osprey. Any one of the above hawks could have chased a mouse, rat or rabbit into the open garage and even- tually could have become trapped in the upstairs loft, but certainly not an osprey. They eat only fish. What was an osprey doing in a garage? This incident befuddles me and I'm still wracking my brain for an explana- tion. I've asked other knowledgeable people for their theories on this osprey in the garage and they agree that it shouldn't be. I'm afraid we've stumbled upon one of nature's puzzles that just can't be answered. How about you? What's your theory? Pet crow on the loose Another interesting situation brought to my attention this week was a call from a Greenport woman about a crow that wanted to be fed and even petted. On the second visit by the crow, my caller heard a continual tap- ping sound. She investigated every door in the house to see who was here. Finally she found the crow on he roof, tapping, trying to get her It was fed crackers, which it would dunk into a nearby bowl of water. Once the crackers were softened, it would then eat them. Some smart crow, I'd say. It also tried to gain son attention by pecking at my caller's re slippers. This all reminded me of years ago when our kids were young and we had a pet crow that did similar antics. Once it flew away with a friend's reading glasses, which were on the patio table. Crows take shiny things, often making a collection of them. One day it followed the school bus our kids were on to school. It even tried to play ball with the class at recess time. On a more comical note, Barbara was planting marigolds in a long row when Blackie decided to join in. As she planted them, the crow pulled them out. Our crow also had the habit of joining Barbara as she hung up the clothes. Again, Blackie would mimic her action and pick the clothespins off, then with cocked head watch as the clothes dropped to the ground. During the winter months, when we had milk deliveries, the milk often froze. Blackie would then pick off the (raised bottletop and enjoy the frozen cream that had pushed out of the top. We also had two calls about big darning needles or dragonflies. As I've mentioned in the past, these big green darners migrate at this time of year, much like the monarch butter- flies do. One particular call came from a man who said there were hundreds of them circling his back yard. These ravenous eaters of small flying insects such as mosquitoes, gnats, green - heads, etc., often find spots where fly- ing insects like ants and termites are hatching out. There they'll congregate to feed until the last of the Ovine insects are gone. Then they'll move on to continue their migration. My son reported he had never seen as many of these large green darners passing through Gardiners Island as he did this last week. It's good to hear these useful predators are doing well. One final call this week came from Doug at Eagle's Neck Paddling Company in Southold concerning a "large bird." He thought it might be an eagle perched in a nearby tree. Once again the call to investigate ral- lied us and in no time at all we were headed east. In the short time it took us to get from Cutchogue to Southold, the "big bird" had dropped from its perch in the tree to the ground, where it had captured a full -grown rabbit. All this exciting drama a mere 10 feet from the road. We could now see the "big bird." He was actually a red - tailed hawk in perfect plumage. Its whole effort and concentration were on feasting, its deadly talons gripping the prey as it tore away at this newly won prize. Because of its boldness, being so close to the road, it had attracted five or six cars of interested people all watching "nature in the raw." The need to eat must have been great, because the hawk paid little attention to the spec- tators and the cars. For an hour it fed, oblivious to the busy traffic on Route 25 and the cars parked nearby. As time went on, the cars and peo- ple left and we had the whole incredi- ble scene to ourselves. Barbara reposi- tioned the car to just 15 feet from the hawk, which kept up its busy feast. It was truly one of the great sights of nature, not only for us but for the many roadside observers who were interested and curious enough to stop and watch.