December 05, 2002 - Of snakes and sparrow hawksThe Suffolk Times • December 5, 2002
More on the Stoutenb "urgh menagerie
Of snakes
and sparrow hawk
LAST WEEK WE TOLD ABOUT some of
the animals we've helped through the
years. Today we'll tell you about some
of the birds and other creatures that
we've helped as well.
We've had young sparrow hawks
that gave us lots of pleasure. In fact,
one cold winter day when I was rest-
ing on the couch, I was approached by
one of the boys, who wanted
something to do. I knew it
was almost impossible to
catch a hawk but anyway I
suggested putting a mouse in
a cage and covering the top
of the cage with lassos of
nylon fishing line. Then I
said, "If you sit and wait long
enough, a hawk will come
along and try to catch the mouse but
instead his feet will get caught in the
loops." I figured that should give me a
nice long Sunday afternoon rest with
no interruptions. Not so!
It wasn't long before back came the
cage with a sparrow hawk sitting on
the top of it. Do you believe it? Now
what to do? Hawks had fascinated our
son and training them offered a chal-
lenge. He took some old pieces of
leather and made a hood for its head
and fixed some jesses (straps) for its
feet and with a gauntlet on his arm
worked with the hawk in, the cellar for
a while. This was only one of the expe-
riences we had with a sparrow. hawk.
This hawk (or was it another one? I
can't remember) traveled with us on
one of our boats up the Hudson
River. With us were four teenagers.
Naturally we took along the sparrow
hawk that had now grown familiar
with being around people.
Times /Review photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh
This young sparrow hawk was one of many that spent time with us for reha-
bilitation before it was ready to be on its own. Today we leave this job to pro-
fessional wildlife rehabilitators and wildlife veterinarians.
We left home with the hawk in his
cage on top of our boat and headed
out around Orient Point on our way
up the Sound to the Hudson River. It
was a nice day and we decided to let
the hawk ride outside the cage for a
while as it was really time for it to be
on its own. Just as we rounded the
Plum Gut lighthouse, the hawk flew
off and circled two men fishing in a
small boat. Then, believe it or not, the
hawk landed on the head of -one of
the fishermen. It must have startled
the fisherman, for we could see him
swinging his pole around and around
in an attempt to scare it off. Finally
the hawk knew it wasn't welcome anc
flew back to the boat. Such concern
and excitement for everyone!
After we got around the point we
stopped to see Judd Bennett in East
Marion and to ask if he would keep
his eyes on the hawk while we were
away. Judd was able to make friends
with the hawk right away. He'd feed it
raw hamburger as it sat on his shoul-
der. As we left, the bird was
sitting on, top of the flagpole
at Judd's house and we
knew he was in good hands.
It was months later that the
New York State
Conservation magazine had
a letter from someone in
Orient telling of finding a
sparrow hawk that was so
tame you could feed it. Our hawk had
found its freedom.
Another sparrow hawk traveled
with us one summer as far as the
Canadian border. We had camped on
the American side one night but
decided we would never be allowed to
take a wild bird across the border, so
that night we let it go. It was ready to
be on its own and whether it turned
out to be an American or a Canadian
hawk we never knew. We only wished
it well on its way. . _
Of all the birds we had'around for a
while, probably Blackie the crow was
the most fun and the biggest problem.
Crows are notorious for many things
and probably anyone who keeps a
crow could write a book about it.
Blackie liked the kids and so it would
follow the bus to school and be there
when they went outside for recess. He
would also get himself in trouble by
visiting the neighbors when the kids
were away and, being a pet, he would
fly close to people and scare them to
death.,
In those days we had
milk delivered in quart
bottles. Blackie knew
that in the cold of winter
milk would freeze, the
cardboard cap would be
forced up as the frozen
milk expanded and, what
a delight, first thing in the morning he
could have frozen cream for himself.
Often when Barbara would hang the
clothes on the clothesline, Blackie
would follow her and pull the clothes-
pins out. Did he think he was helping
her or was he trying to copy what she
was doing? When she planted flowers
in the garden, he was right there to
pull them out as she put them in.
One time my sister asked us to
watch her black dog Nickie. That did-
n't seem like a problem but Blackie
thought he'd have some fun. As
Nickie ate, Blackie got behind him
and nipped his black tail. What a sight
to see: Nickie busy eating while
Blackie was at the other end nipping
at his tail.
When we went away one summer
camping we rented our house and did-
n't realize what a problem Blackie
was going to be. Well, crows like any-
thing shiny and bright so Blackie
would watch for something to be left
out and off he'd go with it, presumably
,to- his special place where he collected
all these things. One day he went off
with a spoon. That wasn't too bad but
When he decided to take the lady's,
glasses, that was it. Something had to
be done with Blackie and I don't
know that our family ever knew what
that something was. Barbara's father
was the one who had to make peace
with the ladies renting our house, so
he took the situation in hand.
We even had room for a couple of
magpies from out west when the
boys arrived home one summer fron
college with a collection of new visi-
tors. There was a kangaroo rat that
once out loose decided
toxun across the living
room dragging his long
tail behind him as he
headed for security
underneath the kitchen
When Barbara
planted flowers,
Blackie was
right there to
pull them out.
There were lizards
and even a taran-
Our daughter tells us she remem- I
cers coming home from swimming at
the beach one summer day with a
friend and there in the field behind
our house were two iguanas who very
quickly were caught and put back in
their cage. At that time we also had a
large chuckwalla. Then there was a
very odd - looking lizard whose eyes
could each look separately iri its own
direction and move anywhere it want-
ed to. It also had a long sticky tongue
and when you fed it a bug, out would
shoot this long tongue — zap — it
would go back into the mouth with
the bug attached to it.
There was a weasel for a time until
it was given to someone to take care
of as we were going on a trip some-
place where weasels were not wel-
come. There were many snakes, start-
ing with the little ring- necked snake
with a light yellow ring around its
neck, DeKay snakes, hog -nosed
snakes, milk snakes,-black snakes and,
of course, garter snakes many times, a
they are the most common.
There were bigger snakes in cages
in the house from time to time: a whiz
maze — aiso canea a Dun snake or a
coach snake — was with us for a
while. Then there were the two small-
er prairie rattlers from out west that
Barbara wasn't too sure whether she
liked having around or not. One night
when she came home from a meeting
there was only one in the cage. She
stood up on a chair just in case the
one that was missing was still in the
area. We searched for days but never
found it. We spoke to experts and they
told us we would never find it. They
were right. It's now 20 years since and
no sign of the little prairie rattler ever
showed up.
Barbara remembers that _even when
we were away at college the collecting
went on. When she hung a yellow
evening gown up after a dance she
happened to walk by just as a garter
snake slithered up the front of it. That
was probably a household friend she
hadn't known about until then.
One last story that I have about
snakes happened while we were at
college as well. I had found a pond
area where black terns nested.
Naturally I wanted to photograph
them, so we made it a family picnic
day with the kids and we all went to
the pond where the terns were nesting
on a floating reed platform in the mid-
dle of the pond. I needed help holding
the tripod in the soft bottom so I
called Barbara, who first asked, "Are
there any snakes in the water ?" I said
no so she headed out to help. You
know what's coming next: She got
halfway out to' where I was pho-
tographing and a big, and I do mean
BIG, water snake slithered by her!
Needless to say, I photographed with-
out any help that day.
What fun we've had remembering
and sharing our family experiences
over the years. We hope these stories
will kindle fond memories in your
family of similar experiences that you
have shared.
Focus
ON
NATURE
by Paul
Stoutenburgh