Evening star., 1944-12-11
This and That
By Charles z. Trdce1Uell.

A round dozen hawks visit the WASH.
ington area, but do not offer much
danger to the smaller visitors at bird
feeding station
This is fortunate for the songbirds
which winter here, for hawks are quite
as hungry as any, and might be thought
to be on the watch for congregations
of smaller species.
Usually feeding station which Is run
the year around will not have more
than two visits from hawks in twelve
months.
This is because the hawks are salts
fed with mice, moles land other small
deer" as Shakespeare insisted on phras-
ing 1t, and such hens as they may pick
up from the countryside.
Small birds, too, have something to
say about it. They are deathly afraid
of hawks, and scatter to cover at the
first sight of one.
Often the blue jay warns them. This
is one of his major services to small
species. Another is his hiding of bits
of food in crevices of bark, where nut
matches, chickadees and brown creepers,
among others, find them.
Hawks found in this area include the
Hal Sii tidWh, nflhFp-HnIutCu uHVAs
Cooper's hawk, the American goshawk,
the red-tailed hawk, the red-shouldered
hawk, the bread-winged hawk, Aneri-
can rough-legged hawk, duck hawk,
pigeon hawk, fish hawk, and sparrow
hawk.
Some are seen in summer, others in
winter. On the whole, there are not
as many hawks around here as there
were thirty to forty years ago, but
there are still enough in the suburban
areas to offer some danger to small
birds.
Most of these hawks, when they tackle
other birds, do it from standstill to
bird that is at standstill.
Upon several occasions we have
watched hawks fly into some tall 10
Gusts near our feeding station, and
from there fly as straight as an arrow
into group of feeding songbirds
perched in a rose vine On fence back
of the station.
Evidently one single bird is attacked,
not the group as whole. The hawk
whether one of the larger ones or the
smallest, the sparrow hawk, flies di-
reetly at one bird, upon which his eyes
have been eentered.
He seizes the bird with his talons
and flies to the ground, there to hold
the struggling creature down while his
vicious beak tears into the heart. 1t
is during this stage that one may get
shot at him, but unless the hit is
clear he will fly up and away with his
prey before completing his destruction.
Shooting in built-up areas is very
dangerous, and is now forbidden by
most county ordinances. Then, too,
indiscriminate killing of hawks Is bad
business, because by and large they get
few songbirds, and on the other hand
do help tremendously in vermin con-
troll
The marsh hawk is telerably cem-
mon migrant and winter visitor. Only
few sharp Skinned hawks remain in
winter, which is fortunate, because this
is one of the bad ones.
Cooper's hawk, another bad one, Is
not very common hereabouts any more.
The goshawk sometimes flies in dur
ing cold winter. The red-tailed hawk,
a big one, is sometimes seen in win
ter, as is the rough-legged. The pigeon
hawk, now rare, is seen in the fall If
at ALL
The little sparrow hawk is perma-
nent resident. 1t should never be
harmed, since it rarely attacks song
birds, and is one of the true beauties
of the bird world.
Duck hawks at one time roasted in
the tower of the old Pest Office De-
partment building at 1lth street and
Pennsylvania avenue. Fortunately for
pigeons, upon which it often feeds, it
is rather rare nowadays,
AL In all, the hawks ofier little danger
to birds at feeding stations. Any sud-
den departure Of oil the birds from 4
place where they have been eating will
indicate hawk around. Usually they
do not return for several hours.