Hawks in the Woods

On my way home today, I walked through the woods of Etienne Brule Park, which borders the Humber River in Toronto. It was a rainy day, so I didn't expect to get much. But as I was taking some pictures of rain drops on leaves, I heard a loud screeching in the woods. It was coming from several different directions. I have learnt through experience that only one type of bird will dare to make that much noise - a predator. So I started looking around, and sure enough, I caught sight of a hawk flying through the woods.

A pair of Cooper's Hawks

After some searching, I located the source of some of screeching - a very tall, old tree at the edge of the hill that leads to the top of the ravine. High up in the branches, I spotted two hawks. It took some fiddling with the long lens on the camera to get a shot of them. They look to me like a pair of Cooper's Hawks. The hawk on the right is the mature one, with a red eye. The one on the left is immature, and smaller. There was a third hawk in the woods who looked the same and had the same call, but I couldn't get a good picture.

At the time, I assumed they were Red-Tailed Hawks, simply because those hawks are very common in these parts. But the tip of the tail of these birds was definitely white or yellow. Also, these guys were feeding in the forest, picking apart some carcasses. Red-tailed hawks are larger, and prefer to hunt in wide open spaces, like the sides of highways and open fields. These hawks are smaller, so they can fly through the dense foliage of the forest.

I spotted the hawks in an important spot, in terms of Toronto's history. They were very close to what is now called Baby Point, but in the 17th century, this was the site of a Seneca village of about 1000 people. The Iroquois from the south has pushed out the Hurons, and established a village at the point where a long portage began to  what is now called Lake Simcoe. These hawks were hunting just below the plateau where the Seneca lived. Back then, the area was surrounded by agricultural fields where the Seneca grew their crops. I don't know if there was forest down below, as there is now. In any case, before Europeans arrived, there would have been lots of forest nearby where hawks like these could hunt.

Written by Stephen Milton, of www.torontonature.com. If you would like to get a daily nature picture via Facebook, join my Toronto Nature Diary. Also, visit the website if you want more information on the best places in Toronto to find wildlife, and information about specific species.