Accipiters

Accipiters Anyone? Earl Plato

When have you seen your last accipiter? They’re here. They are mainly bird hunting hawks as are our Peregrine falcons. There are three accipiter species in Ontario. The smallest is the Sharp-shinned.
They are great flyers as they can emerge from dense cover and hit one of the songbirds at your feeder. I grew up with the Cooper’s Hawk, the next largest one of the accipiters. We called them “Chicken” hawks. They would circle over our fenced in chicken yard waiting for an opportunity to strike. I had a great view of one over Willoughby Marsh. This hawk normally inhabits the dense coniferous forests of Northern Ontario. However, this report in the Standard a few years back was entitled “Nesting Hawks On The Attack. Before Joan Epps knew what hit her she was on the ground bleeding. The 75 year old Pelham saw an awesome bird near her. Blood trickled from three talon marks in the back of her head.” A week later a 13 year old girl was attacked by a big bird in the same general area. What was it? I was told firstly that it was a Goshawk but was told by a birder that it was actually a Red-shouldered hawk who was fiercely defending her nesting area. However, many nature photographers have been attacked by Goshawks in more northern Ontario. At Point Abino two winters ago we helped rescue what we thought was an injured Goshawk. We took it to the Owl Rehabilitation Centre in Vineland only to find out that it was a large Red-tailed hawk and sadly too badly injured for it to recover. Goshawks in Niagara? I don’t think so. Have you seen any accipiters lately?
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Bud and I returned to Fox Trot Trail at DiCienzo’s Marcy Woods last week. The old path was still discernible at first. I had no sooner told him about a small dumping area on our right than there were corrugated sheets and eaves troughs. Sad. Ahead was a jumbled mess of fallen trees and tangled underbrush. No path. Bud headed left to higher ground while I looked for the old trail. Rough going for me as I walked under nd over fallen trees. I had told Bud that there was a pond ahead. He called out, “There’s the pond!” I made my way to his location. The wild raspberry vine barbs impeded me but eventually I reached Bud. We were at the pond site. Old memories I recalled again. As we headed back using Bud’s higher way I saw a good treed r with a huge root ball. The furled bark looked like that of a Tulp tree I stooped to pick up a fallen leaf. It was a Tulip tree leaf. Too bad. I will return. Dino DiCenzo Jr. e-mailed me and said, “Spring will be here before you know it so let’s get ready for some tours.” I can’t wait.

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