The hawk most often seen here is the Red Tailed Hawk. Seeing a Northern Harrier, aka, Marsh Hawk, today brought back memories from boyhood. These hawks are ground nesters and are seldom seen perched in trees or on poles. The one seen today was acting according to kind, flying low over a pasture searching for mice.
Our farm had some lowland that tended to be too wet in the spring to work. Dad planted rye there. Rye, like winter wheat, is bi-annual, planted in the fall it sprouts, goes dormant over winter, and grows the next spring and summer. During harvest of that rye field a hawk nest was spotted and the harvesters managed to avoid it. There were two fledgling hawks in the nest. The nest was moved into a wooden box for protection and the hawk successfully raised her young.
Perhaps you've heard the old saying "he goes to bed with the chickens", i.e., he goes to bed early as chickens are wont to do. Chickens on our farm would be heading to the coop in late afternoon and be inside long before dark. There's a flock of free range chickens at the house across the street. Strangely they do not retire early and are busily scratching for food long after sunset. Why are they so untypical?
Takk for alt,
Al
"Parts of Europe and Asia have several kinds of harriers, but North America has only one. Harriers are very distinctive hawks, long-winged and long-tailed, usually seen quartering low over the ground in open country. At close range, the face of our Northern Harrier looks rather like that of an owl; like an owl (and unlike most other hawks) it may rely on its keen hearing to help it locate prey as it courses low over the fields." Audubon Society
No comments:
Post a Comment