Raptors, the Sky Masters

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Ambush Experts: Accipiters. Short-winged, long-tailed and wily, accipiters are agile woodland hawks with a flair for maneuvering through branchy wooded terrain and dashing suddenly into open spaces to grab a meal. Our largest accipiter, the northern goshawk, is uncommon but ranges widely from the Arctic to the southern Rockies. More familiar are our other two species: the blue-backed, orange-breasted Cooper’s hawk — a lanky, crow-size raptor widely dubbed the chicken hawk — and its down-sized near-twin, the sharp-shinned, which is our continent’s smallest hawk.

Accipiters pursue small mammals and birds through the forest at dizzying speed. But they prefer to hunt by ambush, first finding a high perch from which to plot their attack, then pouncing like a cat, spreading their wings over their quarry and holding it to the ground until the life has been crushed or drained from it. Cooper’s hawks will take prey as large as rabbits, pheasants and, yes, chickens; sharpies have more of a taste for mice and songbirds.

FLYING INTO THE FUTURE

Because they live at the top of the food chain, raptors are too often the end-of-the-line victims of persistent poisons in the environment. The peregrine falcon’s and bald eagle’s well-known brush with extinction from the eggshell-thinning impacts of DDT is only one example.

Raptors continue to take the brunt of ill-considered human activities. Each year, hundreds die from heavy-metal and pesticide poisoning, electrocution on power lines and illegal hunting. At the same time, thousands of acres of habitat critical to raptors and the animals they rely upon for food are disappearing to development.

True, because we’re only human we can’t fly. But it is within our power to make our world a safe and sustaining place for raptors — and for all the other creatures who share our planet with us.

If only we could do that.

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