nature article

Nature article Earl Plato

Yes, I still travel north on Wilhelm Road then west on Forks Road. Then we turn right onto Kaobel Road. We are headed for Welland the back way from Ridgeway. This route has been my hawk route. We have seen up to eight hawks mostly Red-tails. The old tree is gone but hawks are still around perched on telephone posts and on limbs at the top of trees. Wait I went too far. There resting on a telephone wire about three poles back was one of the prettiest little birds I know. This little bird was no hawk. That smallest of the falcons, the Kestrel or Sparrow hawk had flown down to the snow covered ground. Its wings were outspread and downbent. It had its prey for this is a falcon, an assassin of songbirds. The male Kestrel is the spectacular one. If you haven’t seen this bird look it up in your bird book for they are in our Niagara area.
The following is Ed Teale’s January 27th encounter and his observations of that colourful, male bird such as I saw on Kaobel Road, the American Kestrel.
“The Sparrow hawk bends down its head. Small black feathers, torn from its prey, begin littering the snow. I change my position and come out into the open. In so doing I learn again the importance of leaving a feeding hawk undisturbed.. To frighten it away not only is likely to prolong the suffering of the victim but may contribute to the death of another bird because it leaves the hawk with its hunger unsatisfied. As soon as I came to sight, even though some distance away, the nervous little raptor takes flight.. It leaves the starling too heavy to transport through the air. For some time the Kestrel remains on its perch, watching me and turning its head from side to side. Then it lifts into the air in quick and buoyant flight and speeds away.”
What about the victim? Teale tells us that the starling had not died. Although mortally wounded with the flesh torn from its back and neck until the vertebrae are fully exposed. Not a pleasant sight. The bird had pushed itself more than two feet into the edge of a tangle of weeds, Its end would have been more mercifully quicker if the Sparrow hawk had had its way.
Every year I seem to write about people interfering in the fate of wild creatures. Taking sides in nature is an instinctive thing we do for we tend to emphasize with the victim fighting for its life. Comments? E-mail me at earplato@enore.on.ca
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Another Niagara Falls nature observer phoned me recently with this anomaly. 100 - 150 Purple martins near the Hydro Canal and Portage were sighted. Purple martins? Their winter home is South America! The caller knows martins and their forked tails and their circling and swooping acrobatics. He and two others were amazed at this January sight. How come? This flock was seen just that one day. How come in Niagara? Great storms on the Atlantic Ocean may have driven them inland. This time of year? Any explanations? Call me at 894-2417.